Steven Spielberg and Kaminski put out another gem

Rating: 10/10 (10 August 2016)

Spielberg and the Cohen Brothers are a dream team for films like this. The photography by Kaminski, a favorite of Steven, is only matched by the costumes created by Polish born Kasia Walicka (who also did the work for the Cohens in Moonrise Kingdom). Steven has an affinity for capturing the ethos and complexity of Eastern Europe period films as demonstrated in Schindlers List and now in Bridge of Spies.
Tom Hanks plays his usual self, milking scenes with small gestures that lend a form of gravitas to otherwise normal events. His gradually worsening cold gives him a chance to play with his handkerchief that otherwise sits like a soldier in his coat pocket, rigid as the East German guards. If you look up the real person that he plays (Donovan), you will notice that Tom does a bang up job in capturing the character of the man.
The story is true, the scenes where Berlin becomes divided by a wall are graphically real and disturbing. Spielberg uses the camera as the eyes of citizens separated by the wall. Depending on which side you end up provides a polar opposite understanding of what's happening.
As for the Russian Spy played by Oscar winning English actor Mark Rylance, I was stunned by his minimalist interpretation and limited dialog that riveted my attention to everything he spoke and the little gestures that made his character so vivid.
A lot of people felt he did not deserve and Oscar. I say he deserved it by stripping out all unnecessary movements and character effects and still leaving a powerful presence. Unlike Stallone who milks every scene with the same body language, Mylance shows his gifts he learned from stage roles and his management of the Shakespeare Theater. Expect more from this man. Steven already is pulling him into the animated BFG story coming out now.
The only part I did not like is the one dimensional treatment of the U2 pilots, young bucks out of central casting. Gary Powers was a much more complex person than shown in this film. This would have added an extra dimension on what the value of each "spy" was to their respective countries.
An excellent film, done in cold, unemotional, frigid, bleak style.