Cold-War Chess Match as Suspenseful as Any Thriller in Spielberg/Cohen Broithers Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (22 November 2015)

For over a half-century after the Second World War, from circa 1945 to 1990, the United States was involved in a "war" of sorts with the USSR we call the "Cold War". Barring the USSR's military engagements, such as in Afghanistan and other border countries, few died on other side as a result of this Cold War (and spy thriller novelists made a fortune). The Cold War was a continual chess match of adversarial confrontation and tension between the two world super-powers and their respective allies, notably the USSR and their eastern bloc allies of the Warsaw Pact and the United States and their NATO Allies of the North Atlantic Treaty. Non-violent conflicts were nearly never-ending, their chess pieces involving spies, intelligence, and espionage, each side trying desperately to gain the upper hand over their respective adversary, constantly moving their pieces to different areas of the board. When the two sides came to secret negotiating tables, they engaged the game like poker players, holding their cards close to their chests, neither side revealing any more about their hands than absolutely necessary. "Bridge of Spies" written by the Cohen Brothers with Matt Charman and directed by Steven Spielberg, chronicles one such as "game".
Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance, in an Academy-Award caliber performance), a.k.a. Vilyam "Willie" Genrikhovich Fisher, was an older unassuming man in a small Brooklyn apartment appearing to engage in painting projects. While under the guise of a painter, Abel was passing military secrets to Soviet agents. His cover was blown in 1957 when CIA agents raided his apartment and arrested him on charges of espionage and spying for the USSR. The US government appeals to Abel for help in their intelligence gathering in exchange for his release, but Abel declines.
James Donovan (Tom Hanks), a former Nuremberg Trial associate prosecutor, is working as an insurance-claim lawyer in a New York firm. His firm asks him to defend Abel as a publicity gesture to prove the US engages in fair trails, even for those who are charged with the highest-level crimes against the United States. (The film makes it seem like he was an associate attorney forced by his firm to take the case, although at the time, Donovan was in fact a senior partner of his firm Watters and Donovan.) Donovan reluctant agrees to take the case.
The respective lawyers, prosecutor and defender, meet with the trail judge who explains the trail is only for "show" to publicly send a message to the USSR and the world at large that the US Justice Department treats all defendants fairly and impartially, even with those accused of the most heinous of crimes against the state. However, behind closed doors, the judge indicates the verdict is a foregone conclusion. Donovan, who desires to be true to his case and his client disagrees, stating the trial should be taken seriously and not act only as a kind of international publicity stunt. Donovan then meets with his client where a mutual understanding is exchanged in which Abel makes clear he has no intention of cooperating with US intelligence authorities.
At first Donovan is perturbed at his client's reluctance to aid the CIA as it could mean the death penalty for Abel. However, as their attorney-client relationship evolves, Donovan begins to have respect for Abel. Abel was engaging in activities which other men in service to the United States are doing to the other side. In a profound statement, Abel says to Donovan that he hopes an American spy caught on the other side will also not be mistreated. In the only part of the film which was a bit weak, details of the actual trial are glossed over before Abel's inevitable conviction. In a surprising turn, the judge does not give Abel the death penalty but rather sentences him to a long prison term.
In a different storyline, Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) is a US fighter pilot recruited by the CIA to engage in intelligence gathering. Scenes between the Abel case and Powers interweave and we learn about the recruitment and training process for pilots who have been drafted into the Cold War conflict. They are now expendable chess pieces in the larger game. They learn about their equipment and their undercover tasks which is so secret they are forbidden even to tell All-Mighty God about their endeavors. At first, Powers' story seems to have little to do with the Abel case, except Powers and Abel are both intelligence-gatherers for the different sides of the Cold War. However, as events play out, the two men's destinies will become intertwined. Eventually, Donovan will be traveling to Berlin where he'll see first-hand the creation of the infamous Berlin Wall.
An absolutely riveting and edge-of-your seat Cold War story. While there are no car chases and no gun-fire exchanges, the story is as compelling and suspenseful as any by Spielberg and the Cohen brothers. They are masters of the well-paced scene in which we the audience are never sure how the events will resolve. Even during the final climactic event of the film, which is largely understated, not much actually happens, but our anticipation of what might and might not occur keeps us glued to every gesture and expression. This is one of the best directorial offerings by Spielberg since "Lincoln" and "Saving Private Ryan" and the most riveting by the Cohen Brothers since "No Country for Old Men". Not to be missed, but it should be noted if you're looking for an action and suspense film similar to a Bond or Le Carre offering, "Bridge of Spies" is not that kind of story.