A gripping cold war thriller

Rating: 9/10 (17 March 2017)

Set at the height of the cold war Soviet spy Rudolf Abel is arrested in New York; nobody is keen to represent him in court but eventually James B. Donovan, an insurance lawyer with previous experience at the Nuremberg trials, takes on the job. He is not expected to do much more than go through the motions but he is determined that Abel will represented to the best of his ability even if that makes him unpopular. Donovan is adamant that Abel must be given the best defence as demanded by the US Constitution not doing so would make America little better than countries that don't have fair trials. Somewhat inevitably Abel is found guilty but Donovan makes a very logical plea against the expected death sentence if for no other reason he should be kept alive so that the United States will have somebody to trade if one of their spies is caught by the Soviets. Not long afterwards just such an event happens when US pilot Gary Powers is shot down while flying a U2 spy plane high over the Soviet Union. Shortly afterwards another American is arrested on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain; this time a student in East Berlin. Donovan soon finds himself in Berlin, where he is to negotiate with the Soviets to exchange Abel for Powers however he wants both Powers and the student; it won't be easy though as the latter is held by the East Germans and the CIA aren't at all bothered about getting him back; they just want Powers before he cracks and starts to spill secrets about the U2 project.
This is very much a film of two halves; both of them gripping. The first half is a court room drama where Donovan represents Abel to the best of his abilities even though it makes him very unpopular with a population that seems to think that anybody who represents a suspected spy is little better themselves; during this we also get scenes showing Powers entering the U2 programme and explanations of his mission before his eventual shooting down. These scenes serve to introduce the main characters and their situations but are still gripping in their own right. Tension raises significantly once the action moves to Berlin as it is made clear that if anything goes wrong while Donovan is in East Berlin he doesn't have any formal protection. There is a sense of anti-communist paranoia in America but this is nothing compared to the tension in East Berlin were people are being shot trying to cross the newly erected Berlin Wall. Tom Hanks does a great job as Donovan; an apparently ordinary man who has found himself in an extraordinary situation. Mark Rylance also stands out as Abel; a likable character with a dry sense of humour. Director Steven Spielberg does a fine job keeping the story gripping and capturing the feel of the era. Overall I'd definitely recommend this film.