Bridge of Spies

A film of two halves, two worlds and two men.  Based, at times loosely, on real life events, this is the Cold War thriller for modern times.  Whilst it provides a genuine all-American hero, the ambiguities seeping from so much of the drama don't give us the simplistic distinction between the goodies and the baddies that we've so often been fed in the past.

Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) is a quiet New York artist who is also, as the opening scenes reveal, is a spy for Soviet Russia.  Arrested by an at times hilariously incompetent US security service, he is put on trial for espionage.  Seeking to be seen to be playing fair, experienced lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is asked to act as Abel's defence counsel.  Despite opposition from state, judiciary, media and public, Donovan tries everything he can to secure Abel a proper trial, despite the risks to himself and his family, knowing he can't possibly succeed.

In a parallel storyline the American spy plane pilot Gary Powers is shot down over Russia and held prisoner.  The US government is keen to see him returned before he spills too many secrets, and engages Donovan to act a as mediator, negotiating a deal for the exchange of Abel and Powers.  Cue switch of scene and mood as the lawyer leaves the sunny warmth and security of home for the cold, grey, war damaged streets of Berlin.  The second half of the film focuses on Donovan's interactions with Soviet Union and DDR officials, the latter competing with the former to gain greater recognition of their country as an independent state.  Leading to much tension, uncertainty and some personal danger for Donovan himself, right up to the closing scenes on the bridge of Spies where the exchange is to take place.

It's all beautifully shot, if a little over reliant on symbolism (the contrast between the shooting of East Germans attempting to get over the wall, and some kids free to climb fences back in Brooklyn, was effective but heavy handed), and there are times when the script seems headed towards comic book territory (but the Coen Brothers did have some part in the script!).  If I have a significant quibble though it's to do with times.  At two hours twenty it's a bit overlong.  And the film gives little feel for the period of time covered by the story, jumping blithely across the calendar and round the clock.  Abel was arrested in 1957, Powers in 1960, and the exchange took place in '62.  None of this would be apparent to the casual viewer.

Hanks is excellent in the legal role, very much a man you'd want on your side in court, with a strong commitment to justice and his own humanitarian instincts.  Even when that means conflicting with his own minders, whose morality is dubious.  He doesn't always look as concerned for his own safety as you think he might, but heroes don't work that way....

Rylance is simply superb, the still centre of the storm, delivering a masterclass in minutiae, of saying it all without words.   A perfect illustration of how someone who works for 'the enemy' can also be a decent human being.  A lesson that seems not to have been learned judging by some of the overreactions we've been seeing to our own recent events.  Bridge of Spies reminds us the shades of grey between the media's black and white, and in that it's a valuable film for our times.