"Every person matters."
Hello everyone!
Back with a movie again this week, although for this one, I picked a film from the middle of my pack (I call it a pack now, I've stocked up on them again!) instead of from the whole backlog of them, mostly because it's one of those you just have to get out there.
The point here being, however, that it came highly recommended by two very good friends of mine, and they sort of nudged and poked until I gave in and got myself a copy of it.
The movie I'm talking about is Bridge of Spies.
It's exactly what it sounds like, mind you, and it's really right up my alley with what happens in the storyline, so obviously my friends know me well enough by now to suggest stuff they know I'll gobble up and probably not wait too much before I watch it.
However, for some inexplicable reason I have yet to figure out, I got a copy of the movie, then sort of let it sit there and stew while I mustered energy - or courage - to watch it.
Maybe that was a sign.
If you know me, you'll know that anything related to the spy agencies or the Cold War era, or even anything that's mildly related to politics in any way is something to dig my teeth into, shovel out sand to form a hole, worm inside it and then happily devour whatever it is I have my hands on.
Case in point would be Robert Ludlum's books, Robert Littel's novel, Vince Flynn's series, and others I don't think I want to name right now because I'd be done with this post on Christmas, I think.
Anyway.
The movie begins by the FBI arresting Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, but then their own sense of justice and legal system comes to bite them in the ass (pardon my French) because they have to arrange for a PRESUMABLY fair trial. Of course we all know this won't be it, but anyway.
To ensure this, they hire insurance lawyer James Donovan (played by the incomparable Tom Hanks) to prepare a defence, which is where the fun begins.
See, when everyone and their mother expects Donovan to roll over and fold under pressure, he just sort of plods on ... and on ... and on, regardless of the fact that he's garnering a lot of negative press, his family is shot at, etc.
But seeing as he actually believes in the system and wants this fair trial, he keeps on fighting until he manages to reduce Abel's sentence from electric chair to prison. How? Well, he makes a convincing case that, should they ever need a guy to exchange for an American spy with the Soviet Union, Abel is that guy.
Incidentally, that's precisely what happens when a spy plane is shot down over Russian soil, and the pilot, instead of swallowing his suicide pill, allows himself to be caught (on a side-note here, the CIA leader of the Black Ops is the same guy who played CIA assistant director in Blindspot's first season), giving America the perfect opportunity for a prisoner exchange.
Of course, who else gets sent to East Germany for negotiations than our old friend Jim Donovan, who keeps on doggedly plodding along through snow and red tape. Learning of an American student also held prisoner, he negotiates for him, too, regardless that people tell him that's not the end game and it's impossible.
The end of the movie brings us to the famed 'bridge of spies' where sides would exchange prisoners by having them walk to the other bank, meeting in the middle of said bridge.
To everyone's everlasting surprise, Donovan secures the freedom of both the pilot and the student, in exchange for Abel, and Abel, in thank you, presents him with a portrait of the lawyer who has worked so diligently to return him home.
Once back in the States, public opinion once more shifts in Donovan's favour after his name is linked to the spy exchange, and as a parting shot, we are told that President Kennedy, seeing the lawyer's competence, asked him to negotiate with Fidel Castro for the release of 1,100+ prisoners then held on Cuba after the disaster of the Bay of Pigs.
Donovan returned with more than 9,700 of them.
To make a long story short, I'm on the fence about this one. It was okay when Hanks was on screen and being the absolutely BADASS lawyer who pretty much turned everyone upside down and convinced them they were right side up. I swear he could have sold the Pyramids to the Egyptians. This is one of those movies where Hanks' acting chops come out to play, and oh, they play swell. It was a joy to watch.
But in general, I thought the whole thing could have easily been cut down by an hour and still be watchable and understandable, and it dragged whenever Hanks wasn't in the scene, which is bad for a movie that's trying to sell itself as an espionage-centered one.
So while I did watch it, I will also admit I fast-forwarded through a lot of it, and I don't think I missed much. Sadly, this is one I won't be re-watching any time soon.
xx
*images and video not mine
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