Note: As you know if you follow me, I’m doing Movie of the Week for a little while because I have to watch a whole bunch of movies right now so I don’t have a lot of time to read. 

Any time you start out with Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg, you know it’s going to be worthwhile. It’s a true story of a Cold War prisoner exchange. Tom Hanks plays insurance attorney James Donovan, who is recruited to defend recently captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. The idea is to show the world – that is to say, the Soviets – that even a spy gets due justice in the United States of America.

Abel is convicted – no big surprise there, there was plenty of evidence of his guilt – but Donovan takes his assignment seriously and mounts as good a defense as was possible, which does not really please either the government or his boss. He also pleads his case before the judge as to the sentencing. He suggests that Abel not be given the death sentence because he may prove to be a valuable commodity – which , of course, he does. But Donovan also asks the judge to consider if it is fair to sentence him to death for doing what his country told him to do. And Abel is so darned likable that you can’t blame Donovan for possibly just not wanted the man killed. He’s even talking about having solid grounds for an appeal.

So, Donovan did such a good job of negotiating on behalf of Abel that the government asks him to negotiate the prisoner exchange to retrieve a captured American spy with highly classified information in his head – Gary Powers. But there is also a young grad student, Frederic Pryor, who was just in the wrong place and the wrong time. But Donovan’s job is to get Powers out, not Pryor. The agents handling him are very clear about that. In spite of that, Donovan successfully negotiates the release of both American prisoners in exchange for Abel.

The negotiations are fascinating! Donovan is so good at it! It gave me a new respect for lawyers. Donovan doesn’t come across as a particularly strong or intimidating, but he gets exactly what he wants without giving up anything. You have to admire that.

The best part of the movie for me was watching the relationship build between Donovan and Abel. Abel, wonderfully played by Mark Rylance, is just a guy, just like Donovan. He’s not the face of evil, he’s not the Red Menace, he’s just a guy who’s trying to help his country. Donovan remarks on things such as him not seeming to be upset that he was convicted, to which Abel replies, “Would it help?” He says that a lot. It’s not that he doesn’t care, it’s just that he saw it coming. It’s not like he didn’t know what he was doing was illegal, and he accepts his capture and conviction as a reasonable consequence. The two men form an odd and lovely bond built on affection, yes, but more on respect. Each is doing what his government asks of him to the best of his ability.

As I said, Bridge of Spies is good. Not great, but good. More than that, it is important, like Trumbo, that I reviewed two weeks ago. I was alive during the Cold War, but too young to really know what it was. Since there were no weapons being fired, I didn’t understand why it was called a war. Just as it is important to remember the McCarthy era, it is important to remember the Cold War. And this movie captures a good piece of it in a very enjoyable way.