Bridge of Spies

Plot synopsis:
Set in 1957, at the height of the Cold War, both the United States and Soviet Union employed spies against each other out of fear regarding the nuclear capabilities of one another.In Brooklyn, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) is painting a self-portrait. He receives a phone call. He never speaks but only listens to what he hears. Abel leaves his apartment and walks around the city, unaware of a man, Agent Blasco (Domenick Lombardozzi) stepping out of a cab to follow him. Blasco follows Abel through the subway station where he is joined by Agent Gamber (Victor Verhaeghe). Abel ends up at a park where he sits on a bench to paint. He recovers a coin under a bench. He returns to his apartment and uses a razor to split the coin open, where he finds that it contains a piece of paper. Soon, Blasco and Gamber, joined by other FBI agents, storm into Abel's home and arrest him for espionage.We meet lawyer James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks) in his workplace discussing a client with his co-worker. He is brought into the office of his associate Thomas Watters Jr (Alan Alda) to discuss the case of Abel. Donovan is given the report on Abel's case, and Donovan knows what kind of reputation he would gain for defending a suspected spy.Donovan has dinner with his wife Mary (Amy Ryan) and kids Carol (Eve Hewson), Roger (Noah Schnapp) and Peggy (Jillian Lebling). Carol is upset because her date stood her up. Donovan tells his family about the case, just as his other co-worker Doug Forrester (Billy Magnussen) enters with documents involving the case.In a motel room, pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) is undergoing a lie detector test. Later, he and a group of fellow pilots are brought into a room where they are told their mission - they are to become spies for the CIA to detect any nuclear activity occurring in the Soviet Union.Donovan meets with Abel in prison. Abel never admits to any wrongdoing and doesn't want to fully cooperate with the United States government.On a rainy night, Donovan is followed by CIA Agent Hoffman (Scott Shepherd). The two sit together at a bar where Hoffman tries to get Donovan to tell him what Abel is telling Donovan, for the sake of the country, though Donovan refuses to say anything.The pilots are brought into the Peshawar Air Station to see the U-2 planes that they will use in their mission, complete with cameras and the like.Roger's class watches a video on the dangers of nuclear warfare and the precautions that ought to be taken in the event of a catastrophe. He then sets up his own "duck and cover" station at home, worrying his father.Abel's trial begins, and nobody is on Donovan's side. The people in court think Abel deserves the death penalty for his supposed crimes, and nobody thinks Donovan can get Abel acquitted. On the train, everyone that Donovan sees is reading unkind headlines for his case, and one woman on the train looks at him scornfully. To make things worse, someone shoots at the Donovan home one evening, harming no one, but also not earning any sympathy for the family as most of the country thinks Donovan is a traitor.By the end of the trial, Abel is found guilty on all charges, but Donovan convinces the judge to give him a 30 year prison sentence instead of the death penalty.Powers and his comrades undergo their mission over the USSR. His plane suddenly takes a hit as it's shot down by a ground-to-air missile. He goes down but manages to eject himself from the plane and sail down on his parachute. Powers is later captured and held by the Soviet Union.In West Germany, American student Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers) rides his bike by the construction site of the Berlin Wall, to meet his girlfriend Katje (Nadja Bobyleva). Pryor is confronted by East German Stasi agents who find him suspicious. He shows off his books to prove he is a student, but he is subsequently arrested.With both American men in detainment, an exchange is planned between the U.S. and USSR to trade Abel for Powers. However, Donovan thinks they should get Pryor back as well. The CIA only wants Powers back, but Donovan plans to make a negotiation regardless. He travels to East Germany to meet with Wolfgang Vogel (Sebastian Koch), a German lawyer who can broker a deal. Donovan meets three people posing as Abel's family before meeting Vogel. Donovan sees through the ruse, however.During his time in East Germany, Donovan is forced to stay in a cold and crummy hotel room. As he passes by the wall on the train, he sees several East Germans trying to climb over the wall to escape, but they are shot down by guards. The sight of this horrifies Donovan.The East German government refuses to give up Pryor after learning that the USSR was involved in the negotiation. While the CIA thinks they should leave Pryor, Donovan makes a bold move by threatening the East German government. If Pryor is not released to them, the whole deal is off, and Abel would be interrogated, leaving bad blood between Germany and the USSR.The men on both sides meet on the Glienicke Bridge. Powers's buddy Joe Murphy (Jesse Plemons) is brought over to confirm that it is definitely Powers on the other side. Meanwhile at Checkpoint Charlie, Pryor is brought over. After he is confirmed, the exchange is made, and Abel crosses over to the other side, but not before letting Donovan know that he left him a gift. The two men share one final look before departing the bridge. On the plane ride, Powers tells Donovan that he never told his captors anything, to which Donovan states that none of it matters anymore. He then opens the gift from Abel, which is a painting of Donovan himself.Donovan returns home to his family. The kids see the news story on the exchange and are shocked to hear their dad's name mentioned, thinking he was away on a fishing trip. Mary then walks into the bedroom to find her husband lying there, resting comfortably at last.Donovan rides the train where he sees people are now reading positive headlines. The lady who stared at him earlier now looks at him with a smile. As he looks out the window, he sees children climbing over a fence, reminding him of what he saw in Germany.The ending text states that Rudolf Abel returned home and was never acknowledged as a spy. Francis Gary Powers died when his plane crashed in 1977. Frederic Pryor went on to become a professor at Swarthmore College. James B. Donovan was asked by President Kennedy to negotiate the release of 1,000 Cuban exile prisoners from Cuba after the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. He would eventually get over 9,000 men, women, and children released.

Tags: suspenseful, comedy

Review:
There are combinations of film makers that make you confident, as you pay your ticket price, that you are not going to be terribly disappointed: Steven Spielberg directing; Tom Hanks taking the lead; Janusz Kaminski behind the camera; Michael Kahn editing and a Coen brothers script (with Matt Charmon (Suite Française)).
And Bridge of Spies doesn't disappoint, particularly for someone of my more advanced years (I was born the year following the film's climatic events) who remembers well the terror of potential nuclear catastrophe that hung over the world through the 60's and 70's.In a story based on true events, Hanks plays James Donovan (diverging somewhat from reality here) as an insurance lawyer dragged by his firm into defending Rudolf Abel, the accused Soviet spy played exquisitely by British stage acting legend Mark Rylance.
For me, nothing could be further from the truth and the packed Saturday night audience I saw this with seemed equally gripped from beginning to end, silent save for the odd laugh where some appropriate humor is weaved into the story.Tom Hanks is solid and believable as the fish-out-of-water lawyer, albeit that the role is played with a large spoonful of patriotic American sugar as Donovan trumpets about the importance of the constitution over the lynch-mob mentality of the general public.
Alan Alda – great to see again on the big screen – channels his best Hawkeye-style exasperation as Donovan's boss, looking for a clean and quick conviction.But it is Mark Rylance – an irregular player in movies, and due to appear again in next year's "BFG" – who shines out as the acting star of the film.
It makes the similar scenes, that I commented positively on in the recent "Man from U.N.C.L.E." seem like an amateur school production.The special effects team also contribute in making the shooting down of the U-2 a thrilling piece of cinema.Music is sparingly and effectively used by Thomas Newman, and it can be no greater complement to the composer than that I was wondering until the end titles as to whether it was another Spielberg/ John Williams collaboration or not.A great film, one of my favorites this year.
In its grown-up seriousness and basis in historical conflict, Steven Spielberg's first feature since Lincoln three years ago joins the list of the director's half-dozen previous "war" films, but in its honoring of an American civilian who pulled off a smooth prisoner exchange between the East and West during a very tense period, the film generates an unmistakable nostalgia for a time when global conflict seemed more clear-cut and manageable than it does now.
Bridge Of Spies is a historical drama film starring Tom Hanks, co-written by the Coen brothers, and directed by Steven Spielberg.
Donovan (Tom Hanks)In Bridge of Spies, Steven Spielberg once again masterfully goes to the historical drama with a righteous man's theme (think Schindler and Lincoln for starters).
As usual, Spielberg recreates the times with the atmosphere, cars, and film noir aspect of a spy thriller in the figurative and literal Cold War. He said, "I always wanted to tell the stories that really interested me in my personal life—which are stories about things that actually happened."Hanks is central to Spielberg's vision of the lone hero defying the odds and supporting the highest ideals of the American Constitution and the individually virtuous man.
One of the surprising things about Bridge of Spies is not really that Steven Spielberg directed this story, which tracks the trial and then trade of a Russian spy in 1957 (an exchange for an American pilot, and someone else who I'll get to shortly).
It's the kind of material that would attract Spielberg, especially with the hero of the story, Jim Donovan (Tom Hanks), who comes into a situation he shouldn't be involved with but not only can pull off talking and reasoning with people and finding the better side of a situation or person's nature.
This doesn't fly well in a society that is overrun with Red-Scare fever and end up doing the worst of things when in total fear of things (i.e. the A-bomb, which gets a kind of cameo in the film in a way that Spielberg I'm sure has a personal connection with, being a child of the 50's, but I digress).The Coens I think brought a sense of realism to things, but also stylization; the way characters talk at times there's a lot of things where people try to figure the other person out, which is fascinating to watch.
At the same time I feel like the message can, and probably will, resonate today; Spielberg knows that we're in times where it can be dubious whether people are put on trial and given proper legal counsel if they're suspected 'others' or combatants, and if they get the counsel who knows how the trial will go.Bridge of Spies may have Hanks being, shall we say, Jimmy Stewart-like (I know other critics will or have), and is the guy the audience likes - his endearing characteristic in the second half, of all things, is a cold.
Hanks comes in and is unequivocal in his earnest desire for justice ("Everyone deserves a defense, every life matters" echoes another Spielberg motto in Schindler's List), and it's refreshing in a way to see this in a movie right now.Two little issues: the film's ending is a little long, with a coda that feels like it stretches just a little longer than it should, albeit for a visual callback that does add a bittersweet tinge that is welcome and interesting; and the lack of a John Williams score (the first for Spielberg in 30 years) is startling.
Except for the end of Bridge of Spies (where we get a clip of Pierre Salinger informing the news of the spy swap) and an early scene of a teenage girl watching a late night story, there's not much to nibble on – Spielberg wastes a huge opportunity in a class room scene where kids are watching a nuclear bomb film strip.
Later in the movie Mr. Donovan is recruited by CIA to negotiate the release of captured American spies in exchange for Colonel Abel, including U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers who was captured by the Soviets after his spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace.
I will simply tell the truth of the historical incident that this film is supposedly based on; and I will do it using the memoirs of the two primary American participants in these events - James Donovan and Francis Powers.Let's start by comparing the details and outcomes of the Abel trial in the US with that of Powers' trial in the Soviet Union.
Donovan (Tom Hanks) is assigned by the Bar association to defend in court the Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), who was captured by the FBI.
Will Donovan succeed in his intent?"Bridge of Spies" is a great spy thriller based on a true story in the period of the Cold War. The plot is engaging and the cinematography, costume design and art direction are amazing.
but not necessarily a very entertaining one.First -- and this is the key to my review --- semi-biographical films documenting real events do not have to be dull, or tedious, or dark, or lack connection with the viewer.Look at PAWN SACRIFICE, for example, recently reviewed by this reviewer and still very much top of mind.And then we have BRIDGE OF SPIES, a two-plus hour opus that one suspects never would have been greenlighted without you-know-who as the director and you-know-who playing the lead.Presumably we are meant to honor the main character's humanity as he struggles against a corrupt (or possibly insane) system to do the right thing...?
it's terrific craftsmanship, pure storytelling gusto and that Midas- touch ability to find grounds for optimism everywhere, Steven Spielberg has dramatised a true-life cold war spy-swap drama, starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance.
Bridge of Spies is the new Steven Spielberg directed film based on true events during the cold war.
As such, "Bridge of Spies" doesn't shed new light on Cold War history, but it does tell a small story with of inspirational characters with a lot of heart.Tom Hanks stars as James Donovan, an insurance attorney asked to represent a recently detained Soviet spy named Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance).
Bridge of Spies (2015) *** (out of 4)Attorney James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is given the thankless job of defending suspected Russian spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance).
Donovan accepts the job but soon finds himself defending his client a bit too good for some, which leads to him being the main negotiator between America and Russia when it comes time for a prisoner swap.Steven Spielberg's BRIDGE OF SPIES isn't one of the director's greatest works but it's certainly a very well-made film that manages to hold your attention throughout the rather long running time.
Spielberg perfectly handles the material and milks it for some nice drama as well as some political points that are certainly meant to be taken into consideration on some current issues.Hanks, as you'd expect, turns in an excellent performance and is certainly believable in the role of the attorney who finds his life spinning out of control from not only his wife but strangers who feels he is helping a spy.
As much as you'd expect Spielberg to follow that up with screw- tightening suspense, he confounds that expectation just as quickly with a droll introduction to his lead protagonist named James Donovan, a New York insurance claims attorney arguing why the accident in which the client he is currently representing had hit a car with five people should not be referred to as "five things" but just "one thing".Sure enough, Spielberg doesn't try to do a Tom Clancy with this real-life story of how Donovan came to be appointed by the Bar to represent Abel and subsequently negotiated a tricky exchange of Soviet and American spies; instead, working with a brilliantly written script by Joel and Ethan Coen with Matt Charman that adapts freely from the historical record, Spielberg mounts a handsomely old-fashioned story of righteous underdog triumph.
Long (141 mins) and boring spy thriller with the usual performance from Tom Hanks (James Donovan) who's face throughout the middle of the movie looks like a carrot due to the the bad makeup and in the other half has the usual-suspect- grimace if he is having a poo because of too much effort trying to convince us with his tricks in a particular scene.
One of the most prolific directors in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg, returns to the silver screen with his new period thriller "Bridge of Spies" starring two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks.
What really manages to standout is the impeccable and sensational performance of Emmy Award nominee Mark Rylance, who steals and owns every scene he's present.The film tells the story of James Donovan (Hanks), an American lawyer that is recruited by the CIA during the Cold War to help rescue a pilot (Austin Stowell) detained in the Soviet Union.
In the midst of the Cold War paranoia, Jim Donovan (Tom Hanks) a lawyer specialized in insurance settlement is assigned to defend KGB spy Rudolf Abel, Mark Rylance in a performance that will deserve a few words.
"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.
Both governments agree to an exchange, but not only does James actually have to go to East Germany to negotiate the deal, but when another American is jailed, he tries to get a two for one prisoner.Steven Spielberg has a track record that's easy to rely to when defending his movies, yet I wasn't sure how I'd respond to the political-legal thriller that Bridge of Spies is.
While the subject doesn't seem too remarkable, once you get to know both Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance's (who I hope gets an awards nomination for his portrayal) character, you get a good idea of what both sides are hoping to achieve, both as a stance on what it means to be loyal to your country and doing what's right.Aside from being a strong character piece, Bridge of Spies has a different look then you might expect from the more whimsical Spielberg.
Where Bridge of Spies might rank among the bearded hat wearing gurus career however can only be decided by time but there's little doubt this cold war thriller is an absolute treat of cinematic produce.Tense, taut and most tellingly, meticulously shot and edited, Spies is quite possibly Spielberg's finest film in a decade.Working with his usual and trusted production crew including D.O.P Janusz Kaminski and editor Michael Kahn (sadly John Williams doesn't score Spies, perhaps he was busy in a galaxy far far away?), Spies really does see Spielberg achieve fantastic overall results, especially from his team up with writers Joel and Ethan Coen who were bought in to touch up Matt Charman's original script.While it's not got the heart of Spielberg's most revered films like E.T, Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan or the pure spectacle of ventures like Jaws or Minority Report, it's still clear Spielberg had a blast creating this thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat almost entirely through its scripting and construction.
Stephen Spielberg's riveting new film portrays the real-life events and personalities that led to a historic U.S.-Soviet-East German prisoner exchange in the frozen depths of the Cold War. In 1962, in a divided Berlin, an accused Soviet spy is to be traded for two Americans, if all goes well.
Aside from a few minor plot points and inconsistencies of the spies' time in captivity, Spielberg and the Coen brothers stay true to the intriguing story of how an insurance lawyer from Brooklyn saved the lives of two Americans and a Soviet spy.Novelty in today's cinema is a hallowed treasure.
Donovan) and Mark Rylance (Rudolf Abel) played there roles extremely well and they made the movie slightly watchable but I still struggled to keep my eyes open, through the negotiating scenes between Hanks, the Germans and the Russians.
This particular one is much more focused on persuasive and intense dialogues and not on big action scenes, but due to the beauty and consistency of the conversations, the film doesn't become boring.It has a captivating and inspiring plot and is based on a true story that took place during the Cold War. As presume, the direction is spectacular, Steven Spielberg once again proves to be one of the best.
A well-made and acted but understated cold-war drama about the exchange of prisoners between the USA and the USSR in Germany.Tom Hanks is reliably good as the insurance lawyer James Donovan, drawn into cold-war intrigue, representing a Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in court.
And sometimes, if you're lucky, you are able to "view a film".BRIDGE OF SPIES is a film in every sense of the word.Directed by the great Steven Spielberg, BRIDGE OF SPIES tells the story of the Cold War prisoner exchange in the early 1960's that was brokered by the character portrayed by Tom Hanks .
"Bridge of Spies" follows the true story of James Donovan (played by Tom Hanks), a life insurance lawyer who gets recruited by the government during the Cold War to defend Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (played by Mark Rylance) in court, and then later negotiate the exchange of the spy for one of America's own, Francis Gary Powers (played by Austin Stowell).
Such an event is the subject of director Steven Spielberg's 2015 Cold War suspense thriller BRIDGE OF SPIES, the 27th film in this legendary director's career.Tom Hanks, who has made it his business of playing an Everyman, portrays the role of James Donovan, a New York insurance lawyer who, in 1957, was thrown into the breach of the Cold War by being forced to defend a KGB agent named Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) on three counts related to espionage activity.
Sober and serious much of the time, but with the added wit and gravitas of Hanks' and Rylance's performances to keep the story from getting too grim, BRIDGE OF SPIES is another masterpiece in a long line of masterpieces for Spielberg, especially in his collaborations with Hanks; and it is a film that reminds us that the Cold War, though a part of history now, is also still an important part of that history..
Set in the Cold War era, in Brooklyn, Bridge of Spies is a story about a successful insurance prosecutor, James B Donovan (Tom Hanks) who is given a case to defend a Russian spy, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance).
The acting is all predictable, with Tom Hanks being terribly engaging as James Donovan, but the more notable actor, Mark Rylance, brings a less showy performance, yet given something more to his moments.Bridge of Spies is stellar, simply by its craft and how it straightforwardly retells this story.
Director Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks collaborate once again this espionage thriller set in the 1950s in the height of the Cold War, a period of political tensions between many nations across the globe and a time when the United States facing threats of communism from the Soviet Union that ravaged on until the early 1990s following the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Based on the true events, Tom Hanks play James Donovan, an American lawyer who takes on a daunting court case to defend Rudolf Abel (played by Mark Rylance), who is suspected of being a Russian spy, much to the outrage of the public as well as his wife and children.
'Bridge of Spies' is a very well made, informative and entertaining spy movie inspired by true events during the Cold War. Arguably the most impressive part of this film is the brilliant cinematography and design, with some great attention to detail.