Oscar stuff

Rating: 9/10 (23 October 2015)

Hanks plays lawyer and former counsel for the OSS who represents Soviet spy Rudolph Abel on espionage charges, and is then asked to broker a deal permitting Abel to return to Russia for the release of Francis Gary Powers, captured U-2 spy plane pilot. I have a natural distrust of Spielberg, most recently from the fictional War Horse, for being overly manipulative with his audiences. I have checked the basic facts behind this movie and they appear legit. If the movie was confirmed on a few other points I would give this a 10 without reservation. Sorry, for me historical movies (and particularly Biblical movies) need to be accurate - subtle deviations from the truth can (to me) create false impressions. As it is Hanks and Rylance (as Abel) are just superb, Hanks seems made for Spielberg's sort of movies. The period work is very impressive and cinematography superb. The story starts slowly but once things get going it moves along very well. This has the feel of Oscar work, just an impressive movie.