Steven Spielberg turns to mostly-true history again in Bridge of Spies, set in 1957 during the chilliest part of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
An entirely different timeframe than Lincoln and Amistad but with a similar grounding theme: the Constitution as inviolable saviour of a frequently fallible U.S. justice system.
Who better to champion the Constitution than Tom Hanks, America’s most reliable — inviolable, in some circles — leading man.
Hanks plays James Donovan, a Brylcreem-slick insurance lawyer and Nuremberg trials veteran tasked with defending a convicted Russian spy. “Patriotic duty” and an “important mission” is how the senior partner at his law firm (Alan Alda) sells Donovan on the job.
In a clever opening sequence we see the man (Mark Rylance, excellent) at his easel, painting a stoic self-portrait. We like him instantly, even though — judging by the silent phone calls and counterintelligence paraphernalia littering his artists’ flat — he is clearly guilty.
A herd of similarly suited, fedora-lidded agents descends on the man and arrests him. “Mind if I fetch my teeth?” is among the first things out of the Rudolf Abel’s mouth. But he won’t be doing much talking.
Hell-bent on appeal, no matter the cost to his family or his firm, Donovan endures the bias and vitriol of policemen, fellow passengers on the subway, and even the judge assigned to the case. Donovan doesn’t much care if Abel is guilty, but he does care about the law: “Everyone deserves a defense, every person matters.” A CIA agent clearly doesn’t know who he’s dealing with when he leans on Donovan, threatening, “Don’t go all Boy Scout on me.” We are pretty sure Donovan was a Boy Scout, an Eagle Scout and lifetime card-carrying Scout member.
Donovan admires Abel’s confidence and his refusal to give up Russian secrets. His conviction in Abel’s trade value should a U.S. agent find himself in a similar situation proves prophetic after an American pilot (Austin Stowell) is shot down and disobeys orders to kill himself. Now it’s a race to trade prisoners before the men crack and give up valuable secrets to their respective enemies.
Audiences may find things a little tame by today’s spy standards: a bucket of water in the face and sleep deprivation seems almost gentle when viewed against the interrogation techniques of Homeland, 24 and the like. It’s a throwback to a time when things were quaintly, if unjustly, black and white.
Donovan heads to a divided Berlin, in the middle of constructing the wall, to “have the conversation our governments can’t.” No one wants to acknowledge anything so the lawyer is on his own, the man who went out into the cold.
Meanwhile, a college student is nabbed by the East Germans and charged with espionage, throwing a wrinkle in the prisoner exchange plan. Naturally Donovan disobeys orders and plans to save them all. It’s unrealistic how Donovan compromises the mission safety repeatedly when he’s just a regular guy. Save for an unconvincing cold, our hero seems unflappable, jovial even. He even insists on walking the Glienicke Bridge when the exchange is set.
Donovan may be the film’s moral authority, a one-man salve to soothe the corruption and bias of the American justice system, but ultimately his convictions and well-intended sermons about the law aren’t enough compensation for the audience. Spielberg’s film lacks the political urgency of Munich and the moral certitude of Lincoln.
The movie is buoyed by impeccable set and costume design that impels us to crack a history book, look up a few newsreels. The script co-written by the Coen brothers is solid, consistent storytelling in keeping with its solid, consistent leading man. Bridge of Spies is entertaining but by no means taut or thrilling.
Bridge of Spies opens Friday at International Village.
