the U-2 incident was one of the sketchiest ever

Rating: 6/10 (7 December 2016)

People in the 21st century might not be that familiar with the U-2 incident (a US spy plane got shot down over the Soviet Union and the pilot got arrested). If Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies" is a good introduction. Indeed, one of the most important scenes is when Jim Donovan (Tom Hanks) explains that he is defending Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) because the Constitution says that even the people charged with the most heinous crimes deserve equal protection under the law; this scene is just as relevant during the so called War on Terrorism, which is now likely to go supernova under a Trump presidency.
But there was another side to the U-2 incident. Eisenhower was planning a summit with the leaders of the UK, France and the USSR, in the hope of easing Cold War tensions. The U-2 spy plane got shot down right before the summit was to take place, and the summit got canceled. It looks as though the plane got sent over the USSR to deliberately sabotage the summit, as the US hardliners didn't want an easing of Cold War tensions. This makes clear why Ike warned about the military industrial complex.
A previous reviewer complained that the movie didn't emphasize things that were representative of the era, like cars or music. I interpreted the absence of these things to mean that this story is a timeless one, especially the matter of civil liberties in wartime.
I'd say that Rylance deserved his Oscar win.