Bridge of Spies

Last night I went to see Bridge of Spies which tells the true story of the exchange of U.S. and Soviet spies during the Cold War.  As a student of history and a fan of spy novels, this movie definitely appealed to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  In 1957, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) is suspected of being a Soviet spy and is subsequently arrested.  New York attorney James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is asked to represent him to give the appearance of due process.  Despite the objections of his firm and his family, not to mention the American public, Donovan vigorously defends him and eventually argues against execution on the grounds that Abel could be useful to trade for an American spy caught in the Soviet Union.  Donovan's words become prophetic when a U-2 spy plane is shot down in the Soviet Union and the pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) is captured.  Donovan, as a private citizen, is asked to broker the exchange in East Berlin.  When he learns that the Stasi has captured an American student, he works to include him in the exchange with Abel to the dismay of the CIA.  Donovan gives East Germany an ultimatum and the exchange takes place at Checkpoint Charlie while the exchange of Abel and Powers takes place in a dramatic scene on the Glienicke Bridge between East and West Germany.  The action is slow but incredibly intense with many dramatic scenes involving Cold War intrigue, especially in East Berlin.  In my opinion Tom Hanks excels at portraying these "everyman" characters and this role is no exception (I once read that Tom Hanks is the Jimmy Stewart of our time).  The scene where Donovan argues an appeal before the Supreme Court is extremely powerful and a scene where he is reviled on the train is very affecting.  I also really enjoyed Mark Rylance in his self-contained performance as Abel.  In addition, there are quite a few excellent performances in small roles such as Alan Alda as Donovan's boss and Sebastian Koch, a noted German actor, as Vogel the East German negotiator (Eve Hewson, Bono's daughter, does a good job in a small role as Donovan's daughter).  I took a contemporary American history class in college and wrote a paper on the U-2 spy incident (which fascinated me) so I literally had goosebumps during the scene where they showed the plane to the pilots (much like my reaction to seeing the Enigma machine in The Imitation Game).  I am such a nerd!  I would recommend Bridge of Spies to fans of the genre.

Note:  As I was walking out of the theater, I ran into my sister and brother-in-law who were waiting to see The Martian.  I decided to join them to see it for the third time.  It is so good!