Bridge of Spies

Bridge of Spies, 2015 

Directed by Steven Spielberg, 141 minutes

Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda

Review by Katherine Scheetz

Bridge of Spies has all the quiet allure of Saving Private Ryan (1998) and all the brutal honesty of an older Daniel Brühl film. Seriously though, I waited through the entire film expecting his classic 90s haircut and refreshingly honest German accent. He never came.

The year is 1957 and whether it is in the detail of coattails in the courtroom, the pastel pink of the bathroom fixtures or the “Duck and Cover” nuclear preparations video, Spielberg’s detail-oriented teams have done a supremely subtle way of reminding us of that. Insurance lawyer Jim Donovan is tossed the job of representing one of the most hated men in America at the time, a known Soviet spy on trial for espionage and destined for the electric chair after the song and dance of justice is done. He approaches the situation without any thought but doing the right thing and it is sustained through every decision his character makes, whether that be calling his wife from a West Berlin payphone or getting drawing materials to the hated Soviet in his American prison. The audience can’t help but wonder why we are still paying Hanks to play this part after seeing him in it almost every year since 1992? If he wasn’t every millennials voice of plastic Wild West reason, we might be tired of throwing our paychecks at him by now. 

Spielberg’s pacing is impeccable. It moves slowly, slower than the instant gratification of today but in a way that quiets your breathing and brings you back to life in the 1950s.

His intentional direction isn’t flagrant but rather the stuff of a practiced hand. His choices are made by robust experience, no ego required. The camera angles and the stylistic choices aren’t about showing off what Spielberg can do:  they're about telling Donovan’s story the right way. The first meeting of Donovan and Rylance’s character, Rudolf Abel, was made memorable by luminescent back lighting from the prison windows rendering them to nearly full silhouette, shadow-like, as Donovon pronounces Abel’s harpist wife back in Moscow an “angel”. Employment of slightly-off-kilter angles used in and outside the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. also made the list of notable shots.

In the cinematography department, Spielberg demonstrated effective control of mirror symmetry. Using devices such as the cornerstone phone calls of the film and the time-honored handkerchief, both utilized first as they relate to Abel and then later to Donovon, as well as the human body jumping fences and the Wall, Spielberg gave us little clues to keep us actively engaged in his narrative.

Also to be noted, is the beautiful rhythm to Hanks and Rylance’s dialogue together, echoed throughout the film in the brilliantly scripted “Would it help?” which Rylance repeats several times. To hear Rylance’s subtext change throughout the course of the story and his relationship with Hank’s character, it gnaws at your stomach. The deep northern English accent that Rylance nuanced for Abel is hypnotic. He fades in and out with the rise and fall of the accent against the words, his voice scratches in prison, and becomes moist and phlegmy as he grows more confident. Watching Rylance refine Abel into a tall, nonchalant glass of Commie vodka throughout the course of the film was a privilege.

What truly makes this a film worth watching, and what separates this of Hank’s roles from his other, is Spielberg’s decision to utilize of his platform to make powerful moments at the Berlin Wall come to the fore front. Between the scenes shot at the building of the Wall, cement block by cement block, and Donovan’s witness of escapees from East Berlin in no man’s land, it’s a cinematic triumph in bringing people’s, especially the American people’s, attention to a brutal and not so distant history.

It is a film that brings you out of yourself. Donovan challenges you to be better, no matter your country, no matter your family, no matter what you have to do. Hanks’ delivery of this lesson is so gentle, and yet so firm, that of course we listen. It is on Hank’s good words, Spielberg’s faithful history lesson and the lull of life in cold times takes off. And it’s sure to make every historical bibliophile giddy to go home and read well into the wee morning hours (yes, I’m looking at you, Dad).

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