When Donovan gets there, he finds that East German government is wanting to prove that they are also a power to be reckoned with. They have captured a student who crossed into East Berlin and want to exchange him for Powers to prove to the US that they are a sovereign nation and to prove to the USSR that they can be useful and should be respected. Donovan is torn between his mission to get Powers and his desire to get this student returned, but the CIA is adamant that he is only to get Powers. You'll have to see it for yourself, because I don't want to give away how it ends (although if you are familiar with this period in history, you might already know the story).
While Tom Hanks is great, the real star of the show is probably Mark Rylance, who played Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. Rylance won a well-deserved Oscar for best supporting actor for Bridge of Spies. He was absolutely brilliant and this movie deserves to be watched if for no other reason than his performance.
I have to be honest – I loved this movie. It is admittedly Oscar-bait and reviews were kind of mixed. However, my admiration comes down to two things. First of all, James Donovan is a truly heroic lawyer. He sacrifices his own interests time and time again for the best interest of his client, whether that be his reputation, his career, or even the risk of spending time in a Stasi jail cell. He is a modern-day Atticus Finch. Perhaps in real life, like Atticus in Go Set a Watchman, he is not as admirable as the movie portrays him; I don't know. But Bridge of Spies is not portrayed as a straight biography; Spielberg takes liberties for the sake of the story. So Donovan becomes a truly heroic figure worth the admiration of lawyers and non-lawyers alike.
Secondly, Spielberg does the brilliant approach of making you admire a Soviet spy while completely rejecting Communism. Bridge of Spies is unabashedly patriotic. There are several scenes designed to contrast the Soviet block to America, whether it is a prison cell, a courtroom, or just a city street. My favorite contrasts people climbing over a fence. In East Berlin, Donovan is looking out the window of a train and sees someone shot trying to jump over the fence. When he gets back to New York, he repeats the scene, this time in daylight. As he looks out the window of a train, he sees children jumping a fence, laughing. Spielberg sets up several of these scenes throughout the movie to contrast Western and Communist society. Despite being anti-communist, Spielberg is forced to admire the courage of the Soviet spy who is loyal despite his government being disloyal to him. As Donovan points out, it isn't treason what he is doing because he isn't American. He even reminds the judge that we have people doing the same thing. Donovan's argument (and Spielberg's) throughout the movie is that we prove our superiority to our enemies by being true to our values. This is especially poignant today when our society is increasingly tempted to use methods that undermine freedom and morality to fight terrorism.
My one critique is about the scene where the American pilot is shot down. At one point, he is knocked out of the cockpit of his falling jet, but manages to hang on and climb back in. This feels unrealistic and is jarringly out of place in this otherwise realistic film. If it was a Marvel movie, my suspension of disbelief would have kicked in and I would have enjoyed this feat, but as it was a historical film, it annoyed me.
Rating: 4.5
I'd give this 4.75 if that was an option, but under my admittedly arbitary rules I only give out whole or half stars. Mark Rylance is amazing and is reason enough to see the movie. But there is that one plane crash scene, so I feel compelled to take something off.
Caveat Spectator
This movie is really quite clean. There is no discussion of anything sexual, although there is one scene where an old man is seen in his underwear. There is occasional language, but not too frequently. Violence is also not an issue; the rare images of violence are seen mostly at a distance. Some moments could be scary for small children, but this is not a movie for children are likely to enjoy anyways.
