Bridge of Spies is a 2015 feature film, starring Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, and Amy Ryan. Steven Spielberg directed and produced it. Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger produced it as well. The film won many awards and accolades, some of the most prominent being the American Film Institute’s Top Film of the Year, the National Board of Review’s Top Film, and the Satellite Awards’ Best Art Direction and Production Design. The film was nominated for a total of six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, and Best Sound Mixing. Mark Rylance, for his portrayal of Rudolf Abel, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, along with the British Academy
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As for minor discrepancies, Donovan was not shot in his home, as depicted in the movie, nor was his overcoat stolen in East Berlin. Donovan 's suggestion to the judge about Abel acting as an “insurance policy” for a future exchange did not take place in the judge’s private home but in open court. The movie also shortened the actual timespan of events for the sake of dramatic effect. Donovan could not have seen Berlin Wall escapees shot, as the most similar shooting happened months after he left. Also, the movie makes the Powers’ capture by Soviet forces appear to happen quickly after Abel’s sentencing. In reality, this happened two and a half years later. The largest historical inaccuracy lies in the great liberties taken with Frederic Pryor’s story. Firstly, he was not arrested when the Berlin Wall was being built; he was vacationing in Denmark at the time. Second, he did not sneak into East Germany to help a lover escape; he went into East Germany legally to check on a friend’s sister and to give a copy of his dissertation to an East German professor. The reason he was detained was because the friend’s sister recently escaped East Germany through some kind of passport manipulation and he unknowingly entered her apartment which the police was staking out. Another large historical inaccuracy was that the movie depicted Powers as being unable to commit suicide; Powers later …show more content…
The movie presents a fascinating historical event with a refreshing dramatic presentation. The actors all did stunning jobs, especially Mark Rylance. My favorite aspect is how they did not fall into the trap of playing the Soviets off to be evil. Abel is presented with utmost sympathy and the Soviet diplomat seems extremely reasonable. The artistic direction in this film is also superb. It has a very clear color palette of blue, gray, and tan which, when mixed, can project differing levels of modernity and decrepitude. The movie also greatly utilizes contrasts to dramatic effect. For instance, when the FBI storm Abel’s room, Abel’s clothes and the wall are tan while the FBI are dressed in Navy Blue. This makes the agents stand out while Abel blends-in (which represents him literally trying to blend into American society). One of the larger weaknesses in the movie, however, is in how unfairly they treat those opposed to Donovan. Anyone who does not agree with his methods or his goals is shown to either be stupid or incredibly short-sighted, which ignores the complexity of the historical situation. The movie would really benefit from some objectivity in that respect. Another weakness was the general rushed and historically unfaithful depiction of Frederic Pryor’s story. The random love interest was unimportant and irrelevant to the larger plot. I would recommend this movie to another student, as a charming piece of
As for minor discrepancies, Donovan was not shot in his home, as depicted in the movie, nor was his overcoat stolen in East Berlin. Donovan 's suggestion to the judge about Abel acting as an “insurance policy” for a future exchange did not take place in the judge’s private home but in open court. The movie also shortened the actual timespan of events for the sake of dramatic effect. Donovan could not have seen Berlin Wall escapees shot, as the most similar shooting happened months after he left. Also, the movie makes the Powers’ capture by Soviet forces appear to happen quickly after Abel’s sentencing. In reality, this happened two and a half years later. The largest historical inaccuracy lies in the great liberties taken with Frederic Pryor’s story. Firstly, he was not arrested when the Berlin Wall was being built; he was vacationing in Denmark at the time. Second, he did not sneak into East Germany to help a lover escape; he went into East Germany legally to check on a friend’s sister and to give a copy of his dissertation to an East German professor. The reason he was detained was because the friend’s sister recently escaped East Germany through some kind of passport manipulation and he unknowingly entered her apartment which the police was staking out. Another large historical inaccuracy was that the movie depicted Powers as being unable to commit suicide; Powers later …show more content…
The movie presents a fascinating historical event with a refreshing dramatic presentation. The actors all did stunning jobs, especially Mark Rylance. My favorite aspect is how they did not fall into the trap of playing the Soviets off to be evil. Abel is presented with utmost sympathy and the Soviet diplomat seems extremely reasonable. The artistic direction in this film is also superb. It has a very clear color palette of blue, gray, and tan which, when mixed, can project differing levels of modernity and decrepitude. The movie also greatly utilizes contrasts to dramatic effect. For instance, when the FBI storm Abel’s room, Abel’s clothes and the wall are tan while the FBI are dressed in Navy Blue. This makes the agents stand out while Abel blends-in (which represents him literally trying to blend into American society). One of the larger weaknesses in the movie, however, is in how unfairly they treat those opposed to Donovan. Anyone who does not agree with his methods or his goals is shown to either be stupid or incredibly short-sighted, which ignores the complexity of the historical situation. The movie would really benefit from some objectivity in that respect. Another weakness was the general rushed and historically unfaithful depiction of Frederic Pryor’s story. The random love interest was unimportant and irrelevant to the larger plot. I would recommend this movie to another student, as a charming piece of