Great spy/legal/historical drama also good for families

Rating: 10/10 (1 January 2016)

This is a great spy and legal drama on the exchange of spies during the cold war.
I went to see it with the kids and they all liked it. The historical reconstruction (East Berlin in particular) is very realistic and the movie mixes very well "every day" life scenes with intense scenes.
Tom Hanks played very well the unwilling soft spoken hero (Atticus Finch style). The stress that himself and his family had to bear is a tense part of the first half of the movie. The (almost) final scene when the family discovers his role in the exchange is a great masterpiece for me.
Mark Rylance in the Soviet spy role is also a great supporting actor, so much like a stubborn, quiet grandfather working at the post office, and so much different from the "traditional Russian spy" (either half-naked lady or half-brained bully) to be entirely believable (and likable too).
One of my kids knew the story from a spy history book and vouches for the accuracy of the details (minor issue is that the American spying plane pilot Powers seems a novice whilst he had several flights under his belly, but you can't have everything).