Like many other Stephen Spielberg movies made since about the
time he decided to inform rather than just entertain, Bridge of Spies is a well-choreographed and mildly funny film. Except for Munich, possibly his least popular film to date, Spielberg seldom
directs or produces any films that are controversial or particularly
challenging. His films generally espouse
the values of living in a democratic society with a moderately liberal message
thrown in for good measure. Bridge of Spies is no exception.
As evidenced by his last two films, Spielberg relies heavily
on the screenwriter to put together an intelligent and coherent script. Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay for Lincoln in 2012, and Matt Charman and
Ethan Coen wrote the screenplay for Bridge
of Spies. Spielberg also relies upon
actors that can ably play their part. Lincoln would have been far less
successful without the screenplay and the tremendous acting talent of Daniel
Day-Lewis. Likewise, Bridge of Spies would probably have been
a less than average movie without Mark Rylance playing the supporting role of
Rudolf Abel, an alleged Russian spy during the late 1950s.
In the film (as in real life), Abel faced arrest for espionage
in 1957. A mild-mannered individual and
amateur painter, he is also extremely intelligent, stoic, and likely guilty of
everything charged. Abel’s assigned an
attorney, James Donovan (Tom Hanks), who the FBI, the local bar, Donovan’s wife
and the presiding judge expects to put up a good defense right up to the time when
Abel faces execution. However, Donovan
convinces the judge that it would be best not to execute Abel as he had value
concerning a possible future prisoner swap with the Soviet Union. Also, not taking Abel’s life may also motivate
the Soviet Union to also not execute Americans charged with espionage in Russia.
Donovan so effectively represents Abel that he and his
family face the hatred of the American public for his defending a Russian spy. At least in the film version of this story,
bullets are fired through the window of his house – just over the head of his
teenage daughter who is watching television. (The overwrought protests taking
place just outside of Donovan’s home are typical Hollywood.) Yet Donovan takes Abel’s case all the way to
the U.S. Supreme Court in an unsuccessful attempt to argue against the wrongful
arrest of his client. While not
portrayed in the movie, he did also successfully argue before the court against
any possible death sentence applied in Abel’s case.
Meanwhile, in 1960 Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) is
shot down at 70,000 feet altitude over Russian soil in the infamous U-2
incident. Donovan is now asked to step
into negotiate a deal in East Berlin with the Russians and the Germans by
proposing a trade of Abel for Powers.
Telling his wife he is going on a fishing trip, Donovan then heads to
Berlin, gets himself involved in a variety of mishaps, and eventually
negotiates for the release not only of Powers but also for an American college
student named Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers).
Donovan not only needs to convince the Soviet Union of the wisdom of
such a trade, he must also work with East German officials who are seriously
offended by any inference their nation is a puppet government under the thumb
of the Soviet regime, and therefore should not be at the negotiating table. In any event, in 1962, due to Donovan’s successful
negotiation tactics, Abel returns to Russia while Powers and Pryor came home to
America.
Bridge of Spies,
141 minutes in length, is another Spielberg film that was: “Inspired by actual
events.” This is his way of claiming to
tell a true story while fudging on any detail that does not neatly fit into a
pattern. But while Spielberg tries very
hard to tie up all loose ends, there’s too much we don’t know about the cold
war for anyone to know precisely what took place regarding the release of
Francis Gary Powers.
Plus, for almost one half of the film, the filmmakers seem
more intent on providing us a nostalgic look back at American life than telling
us about a fascinating incident which occurs during the cold war – a time when
the two great world powers were contemplating firing nuclear missiles at each
other. When Hanks, as Donovan, interacts
with his onscreen family, Bridge of Spies
borders on being a remake of a 1950s television family drama.
Donovan, as played by Hanks, also seems too single-mindedly idealistic
to accomplish what he actually did in life.
Donovan assisted Justice Robert Jackson while prosecuting Nazi war
criminals in Nuremberg. He met
face-to-face with Allen Dulles, the former head of the CIA and Secretary of
State during the Eisenhower Administration, to discuss negotiation strategies.
He also argues an unpopular cause in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. He later negotiated for the release of over
1,000 prisoners following the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion. Because of Bridge of Spies, most individuals will now identify Donovan with a relatively
bland portrayal by Tom Hanks. Outside of
Abel, no character in the film until near the end, seem impressed by Donovan’s
intellect or accomplishments – including Donovan’s wife.
To be fair, Spielberg avoids sentimentalism whenever Rylance
appears on the screen as Rudolf Abel. Rylance
recites many of his lines with comic understatement. Despite being a Russian spy, we still sympathize
with him as a human being. We also
clearly understand that he was doing a job that he may have believed in as much
as Powers believed in his own role.
And as he always does, Spielberg is good in this movie at visually
telling a story. His going from
middle-class America to East Berlin, still war-torn some fifteen years after
World War II, looks precisely how we imagine East Berlin would have looked.
October 27, 2015
© Robert S. Miller
2015
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