Review: Film: Bridge of Spies, by Julie Renee Phelan

Thumps from 1 to 5: Thumps of 4.5.

The film, “Bridge of Spies” is based on the true story of a Russian spy, Rudolf Abel captured by the United States government on our soil, and the United States pilot, Francis Gary Powers who was captured by the former U.S.S.R. government after his U-2 spy plane was shot down over their territory. An attorney, James Donovan defends Rudolf Abel, and then is recruited by the C.I.A. in order to negotiate without government credentials the exchange of Rudolf Abel in return for Francis Gary Powers and a Yale student, who was arrested in the German Democratic Republic as he was studying abroad doing research for his PhD thesis about the economics of the Soviet Union.

            The movie is well written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen; two interesting writers that I am not normally acquainted with doing this genre, but they did a nice job. The director is Steven Spielberg, who couples himself often times with Tom Hanks, who does a nice job playing James Donovan. The most outstanding performance of the film was played by Mark Rylance, who played Rudolf Abel. It maybe that his character was more interesting than Donovan, but I thought Rylance’s performance was noteworthy, and would not be surprised if he gets a nod for Best Supporting Actor from the Academy.

            The most interesting point of view was that of Rudolf Abel; when asked if he was worried, scared, or concerned, he always had the same reply; “Would it help if I were? ...... I am content.”