Subtle Propaganda swings both ways.

Rating: 7/10 (26 October 2015)

Propaganda plays out in this latest Spielberg effort. At the start we see a Russian spy arrested by the FBI. He is a most pleasant fellow played by Mark Rylance. Evidently typecast for the part, he is as soft- spoken and sincere as he was in 'Angels and Insects'. With a pleasant, Scottish brogue, he exhibits a spy with profound integrity. The depiction of the American response to his escaping the death penalty is embarrassingly sophomoric (Actually, as I can remember as a teenager, there was little or no public outcry at the sentence). The incompetence of American military intelligence is also depicted (70,000 ft wasn't high enough for the U-2 spy plane to avert being shot down). But military incompetence has always been an easy target, especially to a liberally biased Hollywood. Nonetheless, it is well-crafted and enjoyable. And, propaganda evens out as we see the Berlin Wall erected, and the consequent brutality of Soviet tyranny.