Worth watching film

Rating: 8/10 (8 December 2015)

What is the common element of all Steven Spielberg's films? Whether it's ET calling home or a lawyer negotiating with Russians during the cold war, the story is presented in an absolutely epic way, like depeche mode use increased decibels to power up their music.The first part of the movie is a courtroom drama featuring the story of a professional lawyer with some strong personal ethics defending the "evil" Russian spy and it reminded me of "Philadephia" (also starring Tom Hanks). Τhe second (and longest) part of the film is the espionage/film-noir one, featuring the negotiations of the lawyer with East Germany and Russia to the exchange of the Russian spy with Americans. The story is largely based on true events but of course there is always room for some subtle American propaganda and epic dramaturgy, Spielberg's specialty. Tom Hanks plays his role with great maturity and efficiency and the story is compact, despite the long duration of the film (141 mins). I guess the point of the film is that ethics and common sense are rare qualities that can really change the world. Still, the fact that the film is after all a strongly presented biography doesn't allow it to be a really classic film-noir film. Nevertheless it's worth watching.