Movie Review: Bridge of Spies
Steven Spielberg has once again created a film which captivates, while at the same time imparts historical information, about which most of us were not aware.
As an unabashed history enthusiast, Spielberg has often drawn on tales told by his family throughout the generations.
This time around he focuses on a prisoner swap during the 50s when the Cold War was at its height and the democratic West was terrified of a communist invasion.
However, the focus is not as much on the ‘swap’, but rather the role played by James Donovan – a Brooklyn-based insurance claims lawyer who was coerced into defending Russian spy Rudolph Abel.
This was not an assignment he accepted with glee, knowing the danger into which he was placing his family. However, when he did, he argued that according to the US Constitution every citizen had the right to a proper defence.
Tom Hanks definitely does justice to his role as the patriotic, silver-tongued insurance lawyer who reached into the very depths of his soul to ensure the safe release of political prisoners on both sides.
A master at negotiation, he soon defined a path that was to indelibly carve its way into the annals of history.
I don’t want to give away too much as I would like you to make that trip to the cinema to watch a very worthwhile film, but would like to leave you with this quote from the production notes:
‘These were the fevered years of the Cold War, a war that involved information, not combat, where words were the ultimate weapon. It was a time when anti-Communist propaganda, ‘Duck and Cover’ educational videos and the media’s sensationalist coverage of events like the Rosenberg trial bred fear and hatred across the country… hatred stemming from fear of the unknown. No one was safe, and it was an especially dangerous time to be in the headlines for defending a Russian spy…’
