Hanks And Spielberg Collaboration In A Cold War Film

Rating: 10/10 (22 February 2016)

Actor Tom Hanks and Director Steven Spielberg once again teams up to make a historical Cold War drama thriller about an American lawyer who was asked to negotiate the release of an American spy whose U-S plane was shot down in the Soviet Union.The result of the tandem's 6th partnership is Bridge Of Spies.
James B. Donovan is an insurance lawyer who was asked to defend an accused spy Rudolf Abel,who was caught in some illegal activities in the United States.The prosecutors were thinking that he will not take the case seriously amidst the Cold War.But apparently he did.Despite of being proved guilty,he avoided the death penalty for his client.Also,Donovan tried his best to defend Abel up to appealing his case in the Supreme Court.
Years after,Donovan was asked to negotiate for the release of Francis Gary Powers,an American spy was caught in the USSR after the U2 pilot plane was shot down.They did this through an exchange of spies with the United States releasing Abel and the Soviets releasing Powers.Aside from that,Donovan also worked for the release of Frederic Pryor,an American economics graduate student,who was visiting his German girlfriend in East Berlin.
The film was interesting.No question about it.While the film had an understated impact,the unpredictability of the characters kept the movie interesting from beginning to end.It was nice to see a something wherein friendship is developed among people who wouldn't trust each other.As for the performances,Tom Hanks could be considered superb.But Mark Rylance definitely deserves an Academy Award nomination for being great as the Soviet spy Abel.As for Spielberg,he still remains the best director when it comes using visual images in telling the story.This deserves the highest rating.