'Bridge of Spies' - Film review

Bridge of Spies is a cold-war period drama/political thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance. It tells the story of a New York insurance lawyer encumbered with defending a Soviet spy as a formality, a representation of democracy when the death sentence is a foregone conclusion. However, Tom Hanks, being the paragon of justice that he is, decides, hang-on-a-minute, this man does deserve fair representation, and his pursuance of justice takes him to D.C. and eventually beyond to the Soviet East Berlin to a politically charged prisoner negotiation.

Found a tagline better than 'the stakes have never been higher'

The first impressive feat of Bridge of Spies is world-building. This may be a surprising accolade seeing as it's based on a true story, but the past very often seems like a different world - not just the past of a no-longer extant country like the GDR, but even the past of a place more familiar like the US. One of the film's many tag lines was 'the stakes have never been higher' and Spielberg does an excellent job of presenting this alien, polarised world. Nowadays we live in a (largely) international world, Bridge of Spies comes with the stark reminder that less than half a century ago this was a hugely different case.


This was achieved as much through characterisations as it is through attention to detail in historical settings and specifics of accuracy. In the 'States the intolerant prejudice is portrayed all-pervasive and subtle, highlighting glares across public transport, shutters tightened, becoming aware of unknown followers in the street, all escalating towards the anonymous shooting of Donovan's house. Conversely in East Germany the Berlin wall is the bold forceful statement of the same prejudice, and Spielberg makes it clear that the young girl gunned down trying to cross the wall is the doppelgänger of Donovan's daughter almost gunned down in her home because her dad 'crossed the wall' by defending Abel. A la Walter Presents' Deutschland 83 and Sting's proclamation 'the Russians love their children too', Spielberg does well to show the similarities between the opposing factions, in that they are opposite for the same reasons they are similar - they both factions are looking to protect their people while self-righteously taking their respective philosophies to the extremity - and, surprisingly but thankfully for an American director, manages to portray a Soviet spy in an entirely sympathetic and humane light.

Of the two leads, it's entirely impossible to say who nailed the best performance - Tom Hanks as the insurance lawyer/moral hero James Donovan and Mark Rylance as the captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel both gave hugely compelling performances which really make the film. Of course Rylance's performance was more subtle as he gets much less screen-time, nonetheless he made a huge impact on the film as a whole, presenting Abel not as an enemy spy but as an ordinary man doing a spy's job, which feels an important step for a character in a Hollywood movie. Tom Hanks seemed to effortlessly own the movie, ranging from lightly humorous to deeply profound, Hanks portrayed the everyman who carried the ideals of equality and justice above and beyond with a genuine connection to the audience.

Tastefullyoffensive's honest movie posters for the 2016 Oscars bill Bridge of Spies as 'Spy Movie Minus the Action Bits'. Of course this is just a parody so it's being deliberately obtuse, but Spielberg did something genuinely clever in marketing a film as a spy film to an American audience and then giving them the fully-fleshed-out human-spy as a sucker punch. How many patriotic Americans would sit through the uncomfortable truth that their enemies are people too? By advertising it as something other than it is Spielberg managed to sneak a good point into a wider audience (no doubt also lining the studios' pockets, but I prefer to see the good in people). This message relates out to a wider range of circumstances than just the Cold War, see the comparisons between the Berlin wall and American prejudice, and with Donald Trump's 'Mexicans… are sending us [their] rapists' and his plan to ban all muslims from entering the US, Bridge of Spies probably couldn't have come at a better time if the DJT crowd are competent enough to unpack and translate its message. In fact, Trump wants to build a wall between the US and Mexico; there's not even a metaphor there, thanks to Trump Bridge of Spies has an excellent literal condemnation of contemporary American antagonism.

Besides the liberty with which the film was advertised as a spy film and Tastefullyoffensive's 'Minus The Action Bits', it's worth noting that Bridge of Spies is an exciting and at times tense film without having to rely on huge exploding set-pieces or gratuitous violence. Spielberg's world-building is so masterful in this film, and the writing so in-key with this, that the sense of threat and tension is pervasive in every scene and every line. The stakes are there, the stockpiles of nuclear weapons, the sensitive information in the respective prisoners' brains, the charged interplay between the West, the Soviets and the GDR - there's little action, but Spielberg manages to keep it riveting through cloak-and-dagger encounters and the endangerment of our close relationship with the protagonist.

Bridge of Spies is a particularly excellent film and a great addition to Spielberg's Pantheon of towering works, adding humanity and care to a story which could easily be a generic political thriller, while also creating a realistic tense and charged world to create a nonetheless riveting experience. I give Bridge of Spies a 9/10 (4/5). As well as watching Season 2 of The 4400, I'm also watching Walter Presents' Deutschland 83, set in the Cold War about a East German soldier reluctantly sent as a spy into West Germany, so a review of that is coming soon if you stay tuned - I highly recommend it, if you can stand subtitles.

Please feel free to comment what you agree or disagree with, I'd be delighted to discuss, and you can leave your email address to be notified of replies or comment anonymously if you'd prefer. More reviews coming soon :)

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