Bridge of Spies
“Bridge of Spies” is the new film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Joel and Ethan Coen made in 2015. It received positive feedback from critics, garnered many awards and nominations and even received an Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actor (Mark Rylance).
The film set during the cold war is a collection of banalities including a predictable plot, mediocre acting and dull music. The screenplay could have been much more thrilling if the writers would have followed the main events in a more historically accurate way. The real life of James B. Donovan was much more exciting than the one depicted in the film. He was a lawyer at the Nuremberg trials and was already a well-known lawyer when he took the Rudolf Abel case. Donovan did not see Berlin wall escapees being shot; the shootings, which were the most similar to the ones depicted were those associated with the killing of Peter Fechter that happened the summer after the Powers/Abel exchange on the Glienicke Bridge.
The real life stories of the spies of that period offer rich material for a writer, however the Coen brothers took the most uninteresting segment of the espionage story. The characters are bland and forgettable. This is an example of a politically correct propaganda film showing the good work of the intelligence services.
In the film the spy Abel working for the Russians was British probably because the director did not want to have any sympathy for a spy who is Russian. The real Abel was born in Britain to Russian parents and lived later in the USSR. The film is not exactly accurate in its depiction of Germany in the 1950s, which was much better organized and was not still in ruins as portrayed in the film.
It is interesting to compare this highly acclaimed film with another espionage movie – “Despite The Falling Snow” made by director Shamim Sarif. It tells the story of cold war spies more emotionally compelling and more thrilling.
Despite The Falling Snow was not made after a politically correct template. After “Doctor Zhivago” it is perhaps the first western film, which shows the Russian people not merely as Mafiosi or prostitutes but as charismatic personalities. Maybe this brought negative reviews from critics who prefer the politically correct clichés.
The film “Bridge of Spies” is boring and disappointing – a naïve film made for a naïve audience. It is clear that Spielberg is a populist and the master of banality.
