Stands out tall among the big names this winter.

Rating: 8/10 (23 December 2015)

Bridge of Spies
What a delightfully wonderful movie! Tom Hanks, you are the best. For the past two days, I watched a lot of movies; they included some big names such as Sicario, The Martian, The Revenant, Creed, and The Hateful 8. No disrespect to any of those titles- they were all good- but surprisingly Bridge of Spies stood out. In fact I was least thrilled to watch it.
So what is it that makes a movie stand out? Why was Bridge of Spies so good? The sheer delight and joy, during and after watching, of a beautiful cinema; the moment you say "Wow! that was good" after the movie ends; and the picture of Tom Hanks lingering in your head long after the movie is over. You know that the movie was good.Keeping all these in mind, I decided to check its ratings. Guess what? In high sevens, that is low, and it is further going to go down- maybe stabilize around mid way. But I thought that it really deserved an eight.
Obviously, there are some questions which I had? Why did not Tom Hanks research his client? Defending a guilty and getting him acquitted is a greater crime. We knew Abel was a spy, but Donovan did not. So did Abel confide to Donovan about him being a spy? If so, shouldn't he not defend Abel or help the government- FBIs,CIAs? Or was he just fighting on humanitarian grounds? Did he feel the treatment given to Abel was not apt, but then who was he to decide? Further, did Abel play with Donovan with his story? Was it brilliant on part of Abel to take a shot in dark making him the real puppeteer? Further, was Donovan so a strict follower of rules- attorney client privileges, even if Abel told Donovan the truth-that he was ready to betray his country? In short was Donovan a traitor? I find all these aspects of the movie fascinating, and looking forward to further deliberation.
The dialogs were crisp and beautifully written. One of my favorite scene is the first conversation between Donovan and Russian spy posing as a secretary in Soviet embassy in East Germany. Another was the contrast between composure of an agent and that of Donovan during exchange.
I recommend-A Must Watch.