Bridge of Spies (2015) Movie | Tom Hanks, Amy Ryan, Eve Hewson, Mark Rylance| updates Review & Facts

e e e e e e e Hello friends how are you guys guys this is not a movie this is full movie detailed review and fact video about this movie if you want to know about this movie then you must like this video because in today's video we will tell you about this movie the director producer cameramen of this film are going to talk about them in detail we will talk about post-production pre-production budget and filming of this movie we'll also give details about starcast we'll also provide details on The Supporting Cast and production guys if you want to know about this movie you must watch this video you will see all the details of this movie in this video what is the story of this movie If you like this video then share with your friends and subscribe our Channel first talk about short detail directed by Steven Spielberg written by Matt charman Ethan Cen Joel Cen produced by Mark plat Steven Spielberg christe mosco creature starring Tom Hanks Mark Ryland Amy Ryan Alan Alda edited by Michael Khan music by Tom Newman production companies DreamWorks Pictures Fox 20 pictures Reliance entertainment participant media afterworks limited Studio bburg amlin entertainment Mark plat Productions distributed by Walt Disney Studios motion pictur Isa United States and Canada 20th Century Fox 3 International release dates October 4 2015 New York Film Festival October 16th 2015 United States November 26th 2015 Germany running time 141 minutes 45 countries United States Germany United Kingdom languages English German Russian budget $40 million6 box off is $1 165.540 Bridge of spies is a 2015 American historical drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg written by Matt Charmin and the Coen brothers and starring Tom Hanks in the lead role Mark Ryland Amy Ryan and Alan Alda set during the Cold War the film tells the story of lawyer James B Donovan who is entrusted with negotiating the release of Francis Gary Powers a convicted Central Intelligence Agency pilot whose U2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 in exchange for Rudolph Abel a convicted Soviet KGB spy held by the United States whom Donovan represented at trial the name of the film refers to the GIC Bridge which connects poom with Berlin where the prisoner Exchange took place the film was an international co-production of the United States and Germany Bridge of spies was shot under the working title of St James Place principal photography began on September 8th 2014 in Brooklyn New York City and the production preceded at bburg studios in poom the film was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through the Touchstone pictures label on October 16th 2015 in the United States and Canada and by 20th Century Fox in other countries nine it received critical Acclaim for its screenplay the performances of Hanks and Ryland Spielberg's Direction Thomas Newman's musical score and the production values the film was a box office success grossing 165 m million worldwide on a $40 million budget and received six Academy Award nominations including best picture and best original screenplay and one best supporting actor for rolance producer of the recently opened Bridge of spies says that the Cold War era spy Thriller in several ways mirrors today's tensions between civil liberties and National Security as well as chilly relations between the US and Russia one can just look at the events in the past week and at the events that have transpired in Syria to understand that our government and the government of Putin and Russia are engaged in kind of a sparring match again just as we were all those years ago during the Cold War conversations of nuclear disarmament and the potential of nuclear war couldn't be more in the news in the last 6 months in our country much as they were in the late 50s and early 60s where the conversation was dominated by the fear of nuclear proliferation clad adds so it is actually shocking how history mirrors itself and how the specifics have changed the technology has changed so that much of our discourse is through social media now but the conversation is exactly the same Bridge of spies directed by Steven Spielberg is based on the true story of James Donovan Tom Hanks an insurance claims lawyer who is enlisted by his firm to take on an unenviable task to defend accused Russian spy Rudolph Abel Mark Ryland the task is all the more challenging in the Cold War suspicion of the time when the judge enables case is willing to overlook look major civil liberties in the name of a successful prosecution although he does spare the accused spy the death penalty this proves to be wise with the ciety capture of pilot Francis Gary Powers flying a spy plane rather than trained government agents it is Donovan who is enlisted to negotiate a prisoner swap able for Powers amid the tensions between the superpowers plat says that Donovan's role perhaps proved that politics and posturing could be transcended when reasonable people sit across the table and actually talk and negotiate without all the rest of that formality to Bear he said that one yearns for that in the world we live in today where there is such great separation and Discord between so many different factions in the world though the New York Film Festival has historically given the impression of looking East toward Paris cans and other European Cinema capitals rather than West toward Hollywood the event final week featured three movies that have the makings of likely Oscar contenders Danny Bo's Steve Jobs the 2015 Festival centerpiece proved to be enormously impressive for the strength of boils polished energetic Direction Aaron sorin's characteristically dense script and the terrific performances of Michael fast Bender Kate Winslet and Jeff Daniels on the non-fiction side Michael moris where to invade next emerged as one of the filmmakers most accomplished and enjoyable films with a generosity and warmth of spirit sure to disarm anyone who Associates Mo's wit solely with ranker and sarcasm then there's Steven Spielberg's Bridge of spies whose World premiere at ni 2015 was a major feather in the festivals cap This reviewer will confess to harboring a long-standing admiration for Spielberg's history films Amistad and Munich both occupi the top spot on my annual 10 best lists in their respective years while Bridge of spies doesn't quite reach those Heights it is a fascinating beautifully realized addition to a corpus that also includes skler list and Lincoln one thought that the film might well prompt concerns the Curious reality that major movies about the Cold War were virtually non-existent during that almost five decades long Global standoff while younger viewers today may find the nuclear competition between communist Russia and the West distant and non-resident those who grew up under its shadow will surely recall the mood of tension and Gloom it made virtually omnipresent which is why its non-appearance as a dramatic subject in American movies of the now looks strikingly odd apart from a rare satire like Dr strangel Love or a thriller like The Manchurian Candidate Hollywood almost seems to have been on a massive campaign to distract the nation from the looming threat of mutually assured destruction looking back a quarter Century after the fall of the Berlin Wall Spielberg eventually escorts us back to that great symbol of the division between the Free World and the captive East but he starts off making a useful distinction when Rudolph Abel Mark Rance in in a brilliantly honed performance the top Soviet agent in the S is arrested by the FBI and charged with Espionage Brooklyn Attorney James Donovan Tom Hanks is asked to defend him and Donovan's wife Amy Ryan voices her Fierce subjection to his defending a traitor but AEL is not a traitor he replies because he's not an American he's a spy the rosenbergs were traitors they betrayed their country this mention of the rosenberg's guilt will of course not endear Spielberg to some on the left but subtly sets the film's moral compass at the outset suggesting that there was a basic difference between our side and there's just as there is between those who serve and those who betray with this established the movie proceeds to evoke an era where TV was black and white and reality itself often looked gray or muddly brownish in this Grim World Donovan's defense of Abel eventually takes him to the Supreme Court and earns him the anger and hostility of many of his fellow countrymen but his battle to save him from the electric chair is a effectively won much earlier when he says this to the first trial judge rather than executing Abel it's better to consign him to prison in case the US ever needs to exchange him for an equally valuable operative of our own Bridge of spies opens with a shot of a man looking in a mirror as he paints a nearly complete self-portrait the man is shot from behind we are not really seeing him we are looking at two Reflections one in glass and one in watercolors the truth is in the middle this dual ity of perception versus reality and eventually the concept of those three triangular points of interest reflection Man painting which look similar but aren't quite will resurface in Bridge of spies a daring studied manner true story that is at once remarkably genuine and deeply cinematic at the same time it's one of the best films of the year as he has done at least a dozen times before Spielberg captures the Arc of a man who is caught up in something bigger than himself and somehow Rises to the occasion the man under pressure this time is Jim Donovan Tom Hanks an insurance lawyer called into duty by his government when the aforementioned painter a man named Rudolph Abel Mark Ryland is captured for the crime of Espionage against the United States on behalf of the USSR it is 1957 and the cold war is a constant concern adults still discuss the rosenbergs around the dinner table while Jim's children learn about how easily they'll survive nuclear fallout if they just duck in cover or fill their bathro tubs with drinking water Donovan is asked to serve as ael's defense attorney by his boss Alan Alda who just wants Donovan to be a warm body someone to sit next to the traitor to make sure the judicial process runs appropriately one gets the impression ay assisted by Hank's steely-eyed determination which recalls the movie icons of Cinema's golden age that Donovan has never just been a cog in a machine and so he actually tries to mount a defense for Abel arguing that the seizure of evidence was unconstitutional and making the case that the death penalty would be a politically bad move even if the public desperately wants to see able hang Donovan argues that AEL not only represents valuable political currency which could come in handy if the US ever needs to negotiate with the Russians but also that Abel should be treated as we would want any American po to treat it in turn if you think about it Abel was just doing a job right he's not a traitor to his country isn't it the same job our men are doing around the world does that deserve the death penalty what message would that send regarding the treatment of our captured men around the world of course Donovan is right and the international picture gets more complicated when a pilot named Francis Gary power's Austin Stow is captured by the Russians despite having no real experience in Espionage which is good because he can't be seen as a spy or even a representative of the SG government Donovan is sent in to mediate The Exchange once again Donovan has difficulty doing the bare minimum in the tradition of the typical Spielberg protagonist Donovan is a man who doesn't only do what's asked of him he does more in Spielberg's vision of the world this is essential to the image of not only great men but also to the idea behind the United States and Theory our leaders don't simply do what's necessary they do what others tell them is impossible Spielberg's historical epics have always tended to this examination of overreaching greatness from Oscar Skyler to Abraham Lincoln from the very first scene which is executed with minimal sound design and no score Spielberg and his technical team work almost like ael's painting focused deliberate and remarkably quiet there's no score for 27 minutes until Donovan is followed in the rain facing his first realization that this Spy game is getting dangerous and Thomas Newman's effective work is used sparingly from there to a degree that might be offputting for some brought in by the advertisements that make Bridge of spies look like an action film this is a movie of dialogue and Design more Tinker tayor Soldier Spy than Skyfall it's a film that builds tension through conversation as Donovan discovers that the world of Espionage is really about deal making and subterfuge we need to have the conversation that our governments can't an important player says this careful approach easily could have been sexed up into more of a traditional spy Thriller but instead Spielberg chose to walk a delicate thematic tight RPP too studied and the film becomes dull too cinematic and it loses its real ISM to say that Spielberg negotiates that tit Trope as deafly as Philipe PTI would be an understatement you could take any scene from bridge of spies and examine it on two distinct but intertwined levels first look at the breathtaking attention to detail the costume design the sets and realize how lived in it all seems even the Donovan home Amy Ryan plays the concerned wife in a slightly underwritten role looks remarkably genuine this film does not fall into the typical period peace trap where it feels more like modern actors playing dress up than an actual Glimpse at history and yet Spielberg and his team find channels for cinematic Vision within that realism look at the color palette distinguishing the United States from Germany when Donovan gets to Europe everything is washed in Blue and Gray even East Germany has a different color scheme than West washed out by the ongoing building of the Berlin Wall every decision in Bridge of spies feels carefully considered informing both the realism of the piece and its deeply cinematic purpose that purpose is embodied in one of the best performances of Tom Hank's career it's a turn that is easy to take for granted at first Hank's reputation is Cinema's Everman is sometimes too broadly defined yes he rose to Fame by finding something inherent in the average man but he's also often the smartest and most morally upstanding man in the room like Henry Fonda he isn't just an Everman he's the best of the evermen this role takes that element of the Hanks persona and puts it at the heart of the Cold War and even American foreign policy why was America the best country in the world after World War II because we had men like Jim Donovan and yet Hanks doesn't overplay that heroism finding the perfect balance between extraordinary and ordinary person Spielberg and Company even give Donovan a coughing sneezing cold in the Final Act highlighting that this flesh and blood man is far from Zer 7 Hanks is well supported by an equally great turn from Ryland the wonderful actor understands what Abel and Donovan see in each other they are both men following orders they are both men who refuse to take the easy way out and they are both men who can see the bigger picture easier than most knowing that it is the portrait that subsists not the real man it is the image the record the interpretation that goes in the history books at this point it would be easy to go on to praise Matt Charmin and Joel and Ethan coen's striking script or examine Janice kaminsky's color choices and Michael Khan's razor sharp editing but we've probably already surpassed praise overload suffice to say every technical Choice feels like the right one there are a few moments in the midsection of the film that feel a bit repetitive a few too many will Jim do the right thing conversations when we know damn well he will but it's a minor complaint especially when the film gets to Europe the pace picks up again and it never looks back since Steven Spielberg began making films in the 1970s he's become one of our most IAL cinematic historians he's often characterized as a director of the fantastic and films like Jurassic Park and AI artificial intelligence certainly bolster this viewpoint but it is his ability to distill world events into relatable human stories and films like Munich Schindler's List Saving Private Ryan Lincoln and many more that has arguably been underrated throughout his long and varied career Bridge of spies continues that tradition in the best possible way that's what happens after a U2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers is shot down over Russia on May 1st 1960 Powers was not a soldier working for any branch of the US military he was a spy working for the CIA the story of the U2 program which had successfully brought the US in valuable intelligence in the preceding years the plane flew so high that until 1960 the Russians couldn't shoot it down is a fascinating one but Bridge of spies mostly ignores it and sometimes fudges the reality like when suggesting that powers was shot down on his first mission when in fact he had several years of successful flights behind him by 1960 but all this is understandable given that Spielberg's film remains focused on Donovan and his effort acting as a private citizen though at the best of the US government to get powers exchanged for AEL almost the opposite of a hectic noisy actioner like Munich Bridge of spies is a notably measured and quiet film Spielberg uses very little music the soundtrack almost seems hushed so that we can hear Donovan thinking or the snowflakes falling on wintry Berlin this restraint accented by Janus kaminsky's eloquently muted color cinematography not only fits the mood of the times it also seems to reflect Spielberg's confidence in the subtle intelligence of Matt charman and Joel and Ethan Cohen's script and the unshowy power of Tom Hanks Central performance there's a classicism here that again places Spielberg alongside John Ford in his contemplation of American character both National and individual nationally he tells us we are distinguished from other countries especially tyrannies like the USSR by our adherence to the US Constitution the dialogue relating this rhymes with that of John Quincy Adams speech at the climax of Amistad individually we sometimes produce men as principled and courageous as Jim Donovan who will stand against popular opinion and even the risk of ignominious failure to do what he feels is right you can imagine Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda playing this role but not any better than Hanks who again proves he's one of the great Screen Actors of this or any generation his work here helps make Bridge of spies another masterful Spielberg Excursion into US History though Michael alara's experimenter will get more detailed attention here when it opens theatrically later this month suffice it to note that it was one of the ni's most bracingly inventive films as well as one that like Bridge of spies concerns the role of science during the Cold War as idiosyncratic as Spielberg's movie is classical Al's exploration of the life and ideas of controversial psychologist Stanley Milgram starts out with an extended sequence in a 1961 Yale psych lab where one subject is told to give increasingly painful electric shocks to another if the latter gives wrong answers to multiple choice questions the shocks aren't real and neither are the reactions to them contrary to what the subjects are told the point of the experiment is to see how far people will go in obedience to an authority figure in this case a scientist in 1957 New York City Rudolph Abel is arrested and charged with spying for the Soviet Union lawyer James B Donovan formerly general counsel to the office of strategic services but now in private practice in insurance law is appointed to be Able's legal counsel committed to the principle that the accuse deserves a vigorous defense he mounts the best defense available he can declining along the way to cooperate in the attempts of the Central Intelligence Agency the successor to his former employer the o to induce him to violate the confidentiality of his Communications with his client Abel is convicted but Donovan convinces the judge to spare Abel the death penalty because Abel had been serving his country honorably and he might prove useful for a future prisoner exchange Abel is sentenced to 30 years Donovan appeals the conviction to the Supreme Court based on the lack of a search warrant for the seizure of able ciphers and photography equipment for his principal stand Donovan and his family are harassed including shots being fired at their home the conviction is upheld in a very close margin in 1960 Francis Gary Powers a pilot in the Sea's top secret You2 spy plane program is shot down over the USSR he is captured and sentenced to 10 years confinement including 3 years in prison Donovan receives a letter from East Germany reportedly sent by Abel's wife thanking him him and urging him to get in contact with their lawyer whose name is voil the CIA thinks this is a back Channel message hinting that the USSR is willing to swap powers for AEL they unofficially asked Donovan to go to Berlin to negotiate the exchange he arrives just as the Berlin Wall is going up Crossing into East Berlin he meets with a KGB officer in the Soviet Embassy and is then directed to voel who represents the Attorney General of the German Democratic Republic East Germany the Attorney General seek to swap able for an American graduate student named for Derek prior who had been arrested in East Germany in the process the gdr hopes to gain official recognition by the United States the CIA wants Donovan to disregard prior but he insists that both prior and Powers be swapped for able in a message to the attorney general he Bluffs that they will either release prior with powers or there will be no deal the exchange of power is enable is to take place at the Glen Bridge with prior to be released simult mously at Checkpoint Charlie tension builds as prior fails to arrive the CIA still primarily concerned with powers tell Abel he can go but Abel out of respect for Donovan's dedication to both his own case and securing prior's release refuses to move it is confirmed that prior has been released and the exchange takes place the next day back in the United States the government publicly acknowledges Donovan for negotiating the deal rehabilitating his Public Image now talk about development Bridge of spies is an American German co-production based on a script written by Matt charman and the Coen Brothers 101 Studio bburg co-produced and oversaw Production Services for the film 12 James Donovan wrote an account of the incident in 1964 under the title strangers on a bridge the case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers 13 the historical background to the U2 incident and the story of former West Berlin CIA Chief William King Harvey and operation gold was published in Rory McLean's Berlin portrait of a city through the centuries 2014 14 Soviet intelligence officer Rudolph Abel who lived and operated in Brooklyn Heights did dead drops of stolen documents in Prospect Park his arrest and history were discussed by Truman capot another Heights resident at the time in his book a house on the heights Charmin became interested in Donovan story after reading a footnote about him in An Unfinished Life John F Kennedy 19 17 1963 15 after meeting with Donovan's son in New York City Charmin pitched the story to several Studios and DreamWork Spot It studio co-founder Steven Spielberg became interested in the film and decided to direct 16 Mark Platt and Christy mosco creature attached themselves as producers along with Spielberg Joel and Ethan Cen revised charmin's original script 17 according to Charmin the brothers were able to really punch up the negotiations on the back end of the movie then they handed the Baton back to me to do a pass after they did their pass to make the movie just sit in a place we all wanted it to the flavor they brought is so fun and enjoyable it needed to be entertaining but truthful 15 in May 2014 it was announced that Tom Hanks would Star as James Donovan with Mark Ryland co-starring as AEL Ryland had previously been offered a role in Spielberg's 1987 War film Empire of the Sun but he declined 18 Ryland consider Ed the Coen Brothers revisions to the screenplay to have substantially improved his part stating that looking at the two versions it was like looking at the first and second cordos of Hamlet 18 Amy Ryan Alan Alder Billy Magnuson and Eve Houston were reported to star in the film as well 1920 participant media co- produced the film 21 Francis Gary Powers Jr founder of the Cold War Museum and the Pilot's son was brought on as a technical consultant and has a cameo in the film in June 2014 Fox 20 pictures agreed to co-finance the film with DreamWorks and participant media with the film's distribution rights being divided between Disney and fox three during a March 3rd 2015 interview with the daily Pennsylvanian plat revealed the title to be Bridge of spies it was shot under the working title of St James Place 22 the film also received funds of 3.7 million from the German Federal film fund dff now talk about filming detail principal photography began on September 8th 2014 in Brooklyn New York City 24 on September 14th filming took place in dumbo a Brooklyn neighborhood where Cruz transformed Anchorage Street to appear as it did in the 1960s 25- 26 on September 15th filming took place in atoria between atoria Park and dimer's Boulevard filming was done on 18th Street and 26th Avenue in atoria where Spielberg was spotted trans forming the five corners Delhi into a 1950s grocery store 270 28029 on September 26th filming took place on 44th Street in Manhattan as evidenced by Crews stationed on 44th Street between Madison and 6th Avenues on September 27th Hanks was spotted filming scenes on Wall Street among extras wearing 1960s costumes 30 on September 28th filming of someday and night scenes took place on the corner of Henry Street and love Lane in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn where the block was set with vintage cars street signs rain machines and spotlights 31 on September 29th filming took place on Hicks Street and pineapple Street where a shop perfect pause was transformed into a 1960s dress shop named Brooklyn Pearl 32 and at the NAA pellet division courthouse on Monroe place and pant Street on October 6th Hanks and the crew were spotted on the same location on Hicks Street 33 the scene in the court hallway in which Donavan to Waters consternation announces his intention to appeal the guilty verdict was filmed on the first floor on the Queens County Supreme courthouse at 8811 suin Boulevard Jamaica New York in early October after filming wrapped in New York City further production began at bburg studios in Berlin and poom Germany and would continue there through the end of November 3D 4 to35 filming in Berlin began with shooting at the former Temple h off airport in October for scenes that actually took place there such as Donovan's descending from a historic c-54 skymaster 36 The Prisoner exchange scene was filmed on the genenic bridge the so-called Bridge of spies where the historical exchange actually took place in 1962 now talk about box office collection Bridge of spies grow 72.3 million in North America and 93.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $165.6 million against a budget of $40 million about critical response Bridge of spies received critical Acclaim on Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 91% based on 316 reviews with an average rating of 7even 7010 the site's critical consensus reads Bridge of spies finds new life in Hollywood's classic Cold War Espionage Thriller formula thanks to reliably outstanding work from from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks 62 on Metacritic the film has a score of 81 out of 100 based on 48 critics indicating Universal Acclaim 63 on cinemascore audiences gave the film an average grade of a on an app plus to FS scale 60 Richard Roper of Chicago Sun Times gave the film four out of four stars and praised Spielberg's Direction saying Spielberg has taken an important but largely forgotten and hardly action packed slice of the Cold War and turned it into a gripping character study and Thriller that feels a bit like a John lar adaptation if Frank CER were at the controls 64 Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune called the film a confident slightly Square highly satisfying example of old school Hollywood craftsmanship starring a major movie star brandishing a briefcase and a handkerchief rather than a pistol the AV club's IGN vishnesky described it as one of the most handsome movies of spiel B's latterday phase and possibly the most eloquent Bridge of spies turns a secret prisoner exchange between the CIA and the KGB into a tense and often disarmingly funny cat and mouse game 66 Thomas soel of the French newspaper lemond praised the film for hearkening back to classic American Cinema noting Spielberg's virtuosic illustration of the mechanisms of Cold War politics 67 on the other hand Mike Scott of the New Orleans times picun had a more more mixed reaction saying Bridge of spies with its stop and go momentum is also more merely interesting than it is full on riveting it's still quite good stuff but despite its impressive pedigree it doesn't feel as if it's quite the sum of all of its parts 68 Preston Jones of Fort Worth Star Telegram gave the film two and a half stars out of five Jones wrote that for all Spielberg his star packed cast led by Tom Hanks and his onscreen and offscreen team Joel and Ethan Cohen wrote the screenplay bring to the table Bridge of spies is remarkable only for how stuffy and surprisingly inert the film becomes Hello friends how are you guys guys this is not a movie this is full movie detailed review and fact video about this movie if you want to know about this movie then you must like this video because in today's video we will tell you about this movie the director producer cameraman of this film are going to talk about them in detail we will talk about post- production pre-production budget and fil filming of this movie we'll also give details about starcast we'll also provide details on The Supporting Cast and production guys if you want to know about this movie you must watch this video you will see all the details of this movie in this video what is the story of this movie If you like this video then share with your friends and subscribe our Channel first talk about short detail directed by Steven Spielberg written by Matt charman Ethan Coen Joel Cen produced by Mark Platt Steven Spielberg christe mosco creature starring Tom Hanks Mark Ryland Amy Ryan Alan Alder edited by Michael Khan music by Thomas Newman production companies DreamWorks Pictures Fox 20 pictures Reliance entertainment participant media afterworks limited Studio bburg amlin entertainment Mark plat Productions distributed by Walt Disney Studios motion picturesa United States and Canada 20th Century Fox 3 International release dates October 4th 2015 New York Film Festival October 16th 2015 United States November 26th 2015 Germany running time 14 3 1 minutes 45 countries United States Germany United Kingdom languages English German Russian budget $40 million6 box off is $1 165.540 Hanks in the lead role markk Ryland Amy Ryan and Alan Alda set during the Cold War the film tells the story of lawyer James B Donovan who is entrusted with negotiating the release of Francis Gary Powers a convicted Central Intelligence Agency pilot whose U2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 in exchange for Rudolph Abel a convicted Soviet KGB spy held by the United States whom Donovan represented at trial the name of the film refers to the GIC Bridge which connects poom with Berlin where the prisoner Exchange took place the film was an international co-production of the United States and Germany Bridge of spies was shot under the working title of St James Place principal photography began on September 8th 2014 in Brooklyn New York City and the production preceded at bburg studios in poom the film was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through the Touchstone pictures label on October 16th 2015 in the United States and Canada and by 20th Century Fox in other countries nine it received critical Acclaim for its screenplay the performances of Hanks and Ryland Spielberg's Direction Thomas Newman's musical score and the production values the film was a box office success grossing $165 million worldwide on a $40 million budget and received six Academy Award nominations including best picture and best original screenplay and one best supporting actor for violence producer of the recently opened Bridge of spies says that the Cold War era spy Thriller in several ways mirrors today's tensions between civil liberties and National Security as well as Chile relations between the US and Russia one can just look at the events in the past week and at the events that have transpired in Syria to understand that our government and the government of Putin and Russia are engaged in kind of a sparring match again just as we were all those years ago during the Cold War conversations of nuclear disarmament and the potential of nuclear war couldn't be more in the news in the last 6 months in our country much as they were in the late 50s and early 60s where the conversation was dominated by the fear of nuclear proliferation plat ads so it is actually shocking how history mirrors itself and how the specifics have changed the technology has changed so that much of our discourse is through social media now but the conversation is exactly the same Bridge of spies directed by Steven spiel ber is based on the true story of James Donovan Tom Hanks an insurance claims lawyer who is enlisted by his firm to take on an unenviable task to defend accused Russian spy Rudolph Abel Mark Ryland the task is all the more challenging in the Cold War suspicion of the time when the judge en Able's case is willing to overlook major civil liberties in the name of a successful prosecution although he does spare the accused spy the death penalty this proves to be wise with the sovety capture of pilot Fran Gary Powers flying a spy plane rather than trained government agents it is Donovan who is enlisted to negotiate a prisoner swap able for Powers amid the tensions between the superpowers plat says that Donovan's role perhaps proved that politics and posturing could be transcended when reasonable people sit across the table and actually talk and negotiate without all the rest of that formality to Bear he said that one yearns for that in the world we live in today where there is such great separation and Discord between so many different factions in the world though the New York Film Festival has historically given the impression of looking East toward Paris cans and other European Cinema capitals rather than West toward Hollywood the event final week featured three movies that have the makings of likely Oscar contenders Danny Bo's Steve Jobs the 2015 Festival centerpiece proved to be enormously impressive for the strength of boils polished energetic Direction Aaron sorin's characteristically dent script and the terrific performances of Michael Fender Kate Winslet and Jeff Daniels on the non-fiction side Michael Moors where to invade next emerged as one of the filmmaker's most accomplished and enjoyable films with a generosity and warmth of spirit sure to disarm anyone who Associates Mor's with solely with ranker and sarcasm then there's Steven Spielberg's Bridge of spies whose World premiere at ni 2015 was a major feather in the festival's cap This reviewer will confess to Har baring a long-standing admiration for Spielberg's history films Amistad and Munich both occupi the top spot on my annual 10 best lists in their respective years while Bridge of spies doesn't quite reach those Heights it is a fascinating beautifully realized addition to a corpus that also includes skinder list and Lincoln one thought that the film might well prompt concerns the Curious reality that major movies about the Cold War were virtually non-existent during that almost 5 decad long Global standoff while younger viewers today may find the nuclear competition between communist Russia and the West distant and non-resident those who grew up under its shadow will surely recall the mood of tension and Gloom it made virtually omnipresent which is why its non appearance as a dramatic subject in American movies of the era now looks strikingly odd apart from a rare satire like doctor Strang love or a thriller like The Manchurian Candidate Hollywood almost seems to have been on a massive campaign to distract the nation from the looming threat of mutually assured destruction looking back a quarter Century after the fall of the Berlin Wall Spielberg eventually escorts us back to that great symbol of the division between the Free World and the captive East but he starts off making a useful distinction when Rudolph Abel Mark Ryland in a brilliantly honed performance the top Soviet agent in the S is arrested by the FBI and charged with Espionage Brooklyn Attorney James Donovan Tom Hanks is asked to defend him and donov Van's wife Amy Ryan voices her Fierce subjection to his defending a traitor but Abel is not a traitor he replies because he's not an American he's a spy the rosenbergs were traitors they betrayed their country this mention of the rosenberg's guilt will of course not endear Spielberg to some on the left but it subtly sets the film's moral compass at the outset suggesting that there was a basic difference between our side and there's just as there is between those who serve and those who betray with this establish lished the movie proceeds to evoke an era where TV was black and white and reality itself often looked gray or muddly brownish in this Grim World Donovan's defense of Abel eventually takes him to the Supreme Court and earns him the anger and hostility of many of his fellow countrymen but his battle to save him from the electric chair is effectively won much earlier when he says this to the first trial judge rather than executing able it's better to consign him to prison in case the US ever needs to exchange him for an equally valuable operative of our own Bridge of spies opens with a shot of a man looking in a mirror as he paints a nearly complete self-portrait the man is shot from behind we are not really seeing him we are looking at two Reflections one in glass and one in watercolors the truth is in the middle this duality of perception versus reality and eventually the concept of those three triangular points of interest reflection Man painting which look similar but aren't quite will resurface in Bridge of spot eyes a daring studied mannered true story that is at once remarkably genuine and deeply cinematic at the same time it's one of the best films of the year as he has done at least a dozen times before Spielberg captures the Arc of a man who is caught up in something bigger than himself and somehow Rises to the occasion the man under pressure this time is Jim Donovan Tom Hanks an insurance lawyer called into duty by his government when the aforementioned painter a man named Rudolph Abel Mark Ryland is captured for the crime of Espionage against the United States on behalf of the USSR it is 1957 and the cold war is a constant concern adults still discuss the rosenbergs around the dinner table while Jim's children learn about how easily they'll survive nuclear fallout if they just Duck and Cover or fill their bathtubs with drinking water Donovan is asked to serve as ael's defense attorney by his boss Alan ala who just wants Donovan to be a warm body someone to sit next to the traitor to make sure that judicial process runs appropriately one gets the impression ay assisted by Hank's Steely eyed determination which recalls the movie icons of Cinema's golden age that Donovan has never just been a cog and a machine and so he actually tries to mount a defense for Abel arguing that the seizure of evidence was unconstitutional and making the case that the death penalty would be a politically bad move even if the public desperately wants to see Abel hanged Donovan argues that Abel not only represents valuable political currency which could come in handy if the US ever needs to negotiate with the Russians but also that Abel should be treated as we would want any American po to treat it in turn if you think about it Abel was just doing a job right he's not a traitor to his country isn't it the same job our men are doing around the world does that deserve the death penalty what message would that send regarding the treatment of our captured men around the world of course Donovan is right and the international picture gets more complicated when a pilot named Francis Gary Po's Austin Stow is captured by the Russians despite having no real experience in Espionage which is good because he can't be seen as a spy or even a representative of the SG government Donovan is sent in to mediate The Exchange once again Donavan has difficulty doing the bare minimum in the tradition of the typical Spielberg protagonist Donovan is a man who doesn't only do what's asked of him he does more in Spielberg's vision of the world this is essential to the image of not only great men but also to the idea behind the United States in theory our leaders don't simply do what's necessary they do what others tell them is impossible Spielberg's historical epics have always tended to this examination of overreaching greatness from Oscar Skyler to Abraham Lincoln from the very first scene which is executed with minimal sound design and no score Spielberg and his technical team work almost like ael's painting focused deliberate and remarkably quiet there's no score for 27 minutes until Donovan is followed in the rain facing his first realization that this Spy game is getting dangerous and Thomas Newman's effective work is used sparingly from there to a degree that might be offputting for some brought in by the advertisements that make Bridge of spies look like an action film this is a movie of dialogue and design more Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy than Skyfall it's a film that builds tension through conversation as Donovan discovers that the world of Espionage is really about deal making and Refuge we need to have the conversation that our governments can't an important player says this careful approach easily could have been sexed up into more of a traditional spy Thriller but instead Spielberg chose to walk a delicate thematic tight RPP too studied and the film becomes dull too cinematic and it loses its realism to say that Spielberg negotiates that tit Trope as deafly as Philip p would be an understatement you could take any scene from bridge of spies and examine it on two distinct but intertwined levels first look at the breathtaking attention to detail the costume design the sets and realize how lived in it all seems even the Donovan home Amy Ryan plays the concerned wife in a slightly underwritten role looks remarkably genuine this film does not fall into the typical period piece trap where it feels more like modern actors playing dress up than an actual Glimpse at history and yet Spielberg and his team find channels for cinematic Vision within that realism look at the color palette distinguishing ing the United States from Germany when Donovan gets to Europe everything is washed in Blue and Gray even East Germany has a different color scheme than West washed out by the ongoing building of the Berlin Wall every decision in Bridge of spies feels carefully considered informing both the realism of the piece and its deeply cinematic purpose that purpose is embodied in one of the best performances of Tom hanks's career it's a turn that is easy to take for granted at first hanks's reputation is Cinema's Everman is sometimes too broadly defined yes he rose to Fame by finding something inherent in the average man but he's also often the smartest and most morally upstanding man in the room like Henry Fonda he isn't just an Everman he's the best of the evermen this role takes that element of the Hanks Persona and puts it at the heart of the Cold War and even American foreign policy why was America the best country in the world after World War II because we had men like Jim Donovan and yet Hank doesn't overplay that heroism finding the perfect balance between extraordinary and ordinary person Spielberg and Company even give Donovan a coughing sneezing cold in the Final Act highlighting that this flesh and blood man is far from z7 Hanks is well supported by an equally great turn from Ryland the wonderful actor understands what Abel and Donovan see in each other they are both men following orders they are both men who refuse to take the easy way out and they are both men who can see the big bigger picture easier than most knowing that it is the portrait that subsists not the real man it is the image the record the interpretation that goes in the history books at this point it would be easy to go on to praise Matt Charmin and Joel and Ethan Cohen's striking script or examine Janice kaminsky's color choices and Michael Khan's razor sharp editing but we've probably already surpassed praise overload suffice to say every technical Choice feels like the right one there are a few moments in the midsection of the film that feel a bit repetitive a few too many will Jim do the right thing conversations when we know damn well he will but it's a minor complaint especially when the film gets to Europe the pace picks up again and it never looks back since Steven Spielberg began making films in the 1970s he's become one of our most essential cinematic historians he's often characterized as a director of the fantastic and films like Jurassic Park and AI artificial intelligence certainly bolster this viewpoint but it is his ability to distill world events into relatable human stories in films like Munich skander's list Saving Private Ryan Lincoln and many more that has arguably been underrated throughout his long and varied career Bridge of spies continues that tradition in the best possible way that's what happens after a U2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers is shot down over Russia on May 1st 1960 Powers was not a soldier working for any branch of the US Military he was a spy working for the CIA the story of the U2 program which had successfully brought the US in valuable intelligence in the preceding years the plane flew so high that until 1960 the Russians couldn't shoot it down is a fascinating one but Bridge of spies mostly ignores it and sometimes fudges the reality like when suggesting that powers was shot down on his first mission when in fact he had several years of successful flights behind him by 1960 but all this is understandable given that Spielberg's film remains focused on Donovan and his effort acting as a private citizen though at the best of the US government to get powers exchanged for AEL almost the opposite of a hectic noisy actioner like Munich Bridge of spies is a notably measured and quiet film Spielberg uses very little music the soundtrack almost seems hushed so that we can hear Donovan thinking or the snowflakes falling on wintry Berlin this restraint accented By Janice kaminsky's eloquently mut color cinematography not only fits the mood of the times it also seems to reflect Spielberg's confidence in the subtle intelligence of Matt charman and Joel and Ethan Cohen's script and the unshowy power of Tom Hanks Central performance there's a classicism here that again places Spielberg alongside John Ford in his contemplation of American character both National and individual nationally he tells us we are distinguished from other countries especially tyrannies like the USSR by our adherence to the US Constitution the dialogue relating this rhymes with that of John Quincy Adams speech at the climax of Amistad individually we sometimes produce men as principled and courageous as Jim Donovan who will stand against popular opinion and even the risk of ignominious failure to do what he feels is right you can imagine Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda playing this role but not any better than Hanks who again proves he's one of the great Screen Actors of this or any generation his work here helps make Bridge of spies another masterful Spielberg Excursion into US History though Michael ala's experimenter will get more detailed attention here when it opens theatrically later this month suffice it to note that it was one of the ni's most bracingly inventive films as well as one that like Bridge of spies concerns the role of science during the Cold War as idiosyncratic as Spielberg's movie is classical Al's exploration of the life and ideas of controversial psychologist Stanley Milgram starts out with an extended sequence in a 1961 Yale psych lab where one subject is told to give increasingly painful electric shocks to another if the latter gives wrong answers to multiple choice questions the shocks aren't real and neither are the reactions to them contrary to what the subjects are told the point of the experiment is to see how far people will go in obedience to an authority figure in this case a scientist in 1957 New York City Rudolph Abel is arrested and charged with spying for the Soviet Union lawyer James B Donovan formerly general counsel to the office of strategic services but now in private practice in insurance law is appointed to be Able's legal councel committed to the principle that the accused deserves a vigorous defense he mounts the best defense of able he can declining along the way to cooperate in the attempts of the Central Intelligence Agency the successor to his former employer the asked to induce him to violate the confidentiality of his Communications with his client AEL is ConEd icted but Donovan convinces the judge to spare Abel the death penalty because Abel had been serving his country honorably and he might prove useful for a future prisoner exchange Abel is sentenced to 30 years Donovan appeals the conviction to the Supreme Court based on the lack of a search warrant for the seizure of able ciphers and photography equipment for his principled stand Donovan and his family are harassed including shots being fired at their home the conviction is upheld in a very close margin in 1960 Francis Gary Powers a pilot in the Sea's top secret U2 spy plane program is shot down over the USSR he is captured and sentenced to 10 years confinement including 3 years in prison Donovan receives a letter from East Germany purportedly sent by Abel's wife thanking him and urging him to get in contact with their lawyer whose name is voil the CIA thinks this is a back Channel message hinting that the USSR is willing to swap powers for AEL they unofficially ially asked Donovan to go to Berlin to negotiate the exchange he arrives just as the Berlin Wall is going up Crossing into East Berlin he meets with a KGB officer in the Soviet Embassy and is then directed to voel who represents the Attorney General of the German Democratic Republic East Germany the Attorney General seeks to swap AEL for an American graduate student named for derck prior who had been arrested in East Germany in the process the gdr hopes to gain official recognition by the United States the CIA wants Donovan to disregard prior but he insists that both prior and Powers be swapped for AEL in a message to the attorney general he Bluffs that they will either release prior with powers or there will be no deal the exchange of poers enable is to take place at the Glen Bridge with prior to be released simultaneously at Checkpoint Charlie tension builds as prior fails to arrive the CIA still primarily concerned with powers tell Abel he can go but Abel out of respect for Donald Van's dedication to both his own case and securing prior's release refuses to move it is confirmed that prior has been released and the exchange takes place the next day back in the United States the government publicly acknowledges Donovan for negotiating the deal rehabilitating his Public Image now talk about development Bridge of spies is an American German co-production based on a script written by Matt Charmin and the Coen Brothers 101 Studio bburg co-produced and oversaw Production Services for the film 12 James Donovan wrote an account of the incident in 1964 under the title strangers on a bridge the case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers 13 the historical background to the U2 incident and the story of former West Berlin CIA Chief William King Harvey in operation gold was published in Rory McLean's Berlin portrait of a city through the centuries 2014 14 Soviet intelligence officer Rudolph AEL who lived and operated in Brooklyn Heights did dead drops of stolen documents in Prospect Park his arrest and history were discussed by Truman capod another Heights resident at the time in his book a house on the heights Charmin became interested in Donovan's story after reading a footnote about him in An Unfinished Life John F Kennedy 1917 1963 15 after meeting with Donovan's son in New York City charman pitched the story to several Studios and DreamWork bought it Studio co-founder Steven Spielberg became interested in the film and decided to direct 16 Mark plat and Christy mosco creature attached themselves as producers along with Spielberg Joel and Ethan Cen revised charmin's original script 17 according to Charmin the brothers were able to really punch up the negotiations on the back end of the movie then they handed the Baton back to me to do a pass after they did their pass to make the movie just sit in a place we all wanted it to the flavor they brought is so fun and enjoyable it needed to be entertaining but truthful 15 in May 2014 it was announced that Tom Hanks would Star as James Donovan with Mark Ryland co-starring as AEL Ryland had previously been offered a role in Spielberg's 1987 War film Empire of the son but he declined 18 Ryland considered the Coen Brothers revisions to the screenplay to have substantially improved his part stating that looking at the two versions it was like looking at the first and second cordos of Hamlet 18 Amy Ryan Alan Alda Billy Magnuson and Eve Houston were reported to star in the film as well 1920 participant media Co produced the film 21 Francis Gary pow Jr founder of the Cold War Museum and the Pilot's son was brought on as a technical consultant and has a cameo in the film in June 2014 Fox 20 pictures agreed to co-finance the film with DreamWorks and participant media with the film's distribution rights being divided between Disney and fox three during a March 3rd 2015 interview with the daily Pennsylvanian Platt revealed the title to be Bridge of spies it was shot under the working title of St James Place 22 the film also received funds of €3.7 million from the German Federal film fund dff now talk about filming detail principal photography began on September 8th 2014 in Brooklyn New York City 24 on September 14th filming took place in dumbo a Brooklyn neighborhood where Cruz transformed Anchorage Street to appear as it did in the 1960s 25- 26 on September 15th filming took place in atoria between atoria Park and dimer's Boulevard filming was done on 18 Street and 26 Avenue in atoria where Spielberg was spotted transforming the five corners Delhi into a 1950s grocery store 27028 29 on September 26th filming took place on 44th Street in Manhattan as evidence by Cruise stationed on 44th Street between Madison and 6th Avenues on September 27th Hanks was spotted filming scenes on Wall Street among extras wearing 1960s costumes 30 on September 28th filming of someday and night scenes took place on the corner of Henry Street and Love Lane in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn where the block was set with vintage cars street signs rain machines and spotlights 31 on September 29th filming took place on Hicks Street and pineapple Street where a shop perfect pause was transformed into a 1960s dress shop named Brooklyn Pearl 32 and at the NAA pellet division courthouse on Monroe place in Pont Street on October 6th Hanks and the crew were spotted on the same location on Hick Street 33 the scene in the court hallway in which Donovan to Waters consternation announces his intention to appeal the guilty verdict was filmed on the first floor on the Queens County Supreme courthouse at 8 8811 suin Boulevard Jamaica New York in early October after filming wrapped in New York City further production began at bburg studios in Berlin and poam Germany and would continue there through the end of November 3D 4 to35 filming in Berlin began with shooting at the former Temple Hoff airport in October for scenes that actually took place there such as Donovan's descending from a historic c-54 skym 36 The Prisoner exchange scene was filmed on the GIC Bridge the so-called Bridge of spies where the historical exchange actually took place in 1962 now talk about box office collection Bridge of spies gross $ 72.3 million in North America and 93.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $165.6 million against a budget of40 million about critical response Bridge of spies received critical Acclaim on Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 91% based on 316 reviews with an average rating of seven 7010 the site's critical consensus reads Bridge of spies finds new life in Hollywood's classic Cold War Espionage Thriller formula thanks to reliably outstanding work from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks 62 on Metacritic the film has a score of 81 out of 100 based on 48 critics indicating Universal acclaim 63 on Cinemas score audiences gave the film an average grade of a on an A plus to f scale 60 Richard rooper of Chicago Sun Times gave the film four out of four stars and praised Spielberg's Direction saying Spielberg has taken an important but largely forgotten and hardly action-packed slice of the Cold War and turned it into a gripping character study and Thriller that feels a bit like a John lar adaptation if Frank Capra were at the controls 64 Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune called the film a confident slightly Square highly satisfying example of old school Hollywood craftsmanship starring a major movie star brandishing a briefcase and a handkerchief rather than a pistol the AV club's IGN vishnesky described it as one of the most handsome movies of Spielberg's Latter-Day phase and possibly the most eloquent Bridge of spies turns a secret prisoner exchange between the CIA and the KGB into a tense an often disarmingly funny cat and M game 66 Thomas soel of the French newspaper Lemont praised the film for hearkening back to classic American Cinema noting Spielberg's virtuosic illustration of the mechanisms of Cold War politics 67 on the other hand Mike Scott of the New Orleans times picun had a more mixed reaction saying Bridge of spies with its stop and go momentum is also more merely interesting than it is full on riveting it's still quite good stuff but despite its impressive pedigree it doesn't feel as if it's quite the sum of all of its parts 68 Preston Jones of Fort Worth Star Telegram gave the film two and a half stars out of five Jones wrote that for all Spielberg his star packed cast led by Tom Hanks and his onscreen and offscreen team Joel and Ethan Coen Co wrote the screenplay bring to the table Bridge of spies is remarkable only for how stuffy and surprisingly inert the film becomes Hello friends how are you guys guys this is is not a movie this is full movie detailed review and fact video about this movie if you want to know about this movie then you must like this video because in today's video we will tell you about this movie the director producer cameraman of this film are going to talk about them in detail we will talk about post-production pre-production budget and filming of this movie we'll also give details about starcast we'll also provide details on The Supporting Cast and production guys if you want to know about this movie you must watch this video you will see all the details of this movie in this video what is the story of this movie If you like this video then share with your friends and subscribe our Channel first talk about short detail directed by Steven Spielberg written by Matt charman Ethan Cen Joel Cen produced by Mark Platt Steven Spielberg christe mosco creature starring Tom Hanks Mark Ryland Amy Ryan Alan Alda edited by Michael Khan music by Thomas Newman production companies DreamWorks Pictures Fox 20 pictures Reliance entertainment participant media afterworks limited Studio bburg amlin entertainment Mark plat Productions distributed by Walt Disney Studios motion pictureis so United States and Canada 20th Century Fox 3 International release dates October 4th 2015 New York Film Festival October 16th 2015 United States November 26th 2015 Germany running time 141 minutes 45 countries United States Germany United Kingdom languages English German Russian budget $40 million6 box office $1 [Music] [Music] 165.540 the release of Francis Gary Powers a convicted Central Intelligence Agency pilot whose U2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 in exchange for Rudolph Abel a convicted Soviet KGB spy held by the United States whom Donovan represented at trial the name of the film refers to the gleck bridge which connects poom with Berlin where the prisoner Exchange took place the film was an international co-production of the United States and Germany Bridge of spies was shot under the working title of St James Place principal photography began on September 8th 2014 in Brooklyn New York City and the production preceded at bburg studios in poom the film was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through the Touchstone pictures label on October 16th 2015 in the United States and Canada and by 20th Century Fox in other countries nine it received critical Acclaim for its screenplay the performances of Hanks and Ryland Spielberg's Direction Thomas Newman's musical score and the production values the film was a box office success grossing 165 million worldwide on a $40 million budget and received six Academy Award nominations including best picture and best original screenplay and one best supporting actor for Ryland producer of the recently opened Bridge of spies says that the Cold War era spy Thriller in several ways mirrors today's tensions between civil liberties and National Security as well as Chile relations between the US and Russia one can just look at the events in the past week and at the events that have transpired in Syria to understand that our government and the government of Putin and Russia are engaged in kind of a sparring match again just as we were all those years ago during the Cold War conversations of nuclear disarmament and the potential of nuclear war couldn't be more in the news in the last 6 months in our country much as they were in the late 50s and early 60s where the conversation was dominating by the fear of nuclear proliferation plat adds so it is actually shocking how history mirrors itself and how the specifics have changed the technology has changed so that much of our discourse is through social media now but the conversation is exactly the same Bridge of spies directed by Steven Spielberg is based on the true story of James Donovan Tom Hanks an insurance claims lawyer who is enlisted by his firm to take on an unenviable task to defend accused Russian spy Rudolph Abel Mark rylands the task is all the more challenging in the Cold War suspicion of the time when the judge in Abel's case is willing to overlook major civil liberties in the name of a successful prosecution although he does spare the accused spy the death penalty this proves to be wise with the ciety capture of pilot Francis Gary Powers flying a spy plane rather than trained government agents it is Donovan who is enlisted to negotiate a prisoner swap able for Powers amid the tensions between the superpowers Platt says that Donovan's role perhaps proved that politics and posturing could be transcended when reasonable people sit across the table and actually talk and negotiate without all the rest of that formality to Bear he said that one yearns for that in the world we live in today where there is such great separation and Discord between so many different factions in the world though the New York Film Festival has historically given the impression of looking East toward Paris cans and other European Cinema capitals rather than West toward Hollywood the event final week featured three movies that have the makings of likely Oscar contenders Danny boil Steve Jobs the 2015 Festival centerpiece proved to be enormously impressive for the strength of boils polished energetic Direction Aaron sorin's characteristically dense script and the terrific performances of Michael fast Bender Kate Winslet and Jeff Daniels on the non-fiction side Michael mois where to invade next emerged as one of the filmmakers most accomplished and enjoyable films with a generosity and warmth of spirit sure to disarm anyone who Associates Mora's wit solely with raner and sarcasm then there's Steven Spielberg's Bridge of spies whose World premiere at ni 2015 was a major feather in the festival's cap This reviewer will confess to harboring a long-standing admiration for Spielberg's history films Amistad and munic both occupied the top spot on my annual 10 best lists in their respective years while Bridge of spies doesn't quite reach those Heights it is a fascinating beautifully realized addition to a corpus that also includes skinder list and Lincoln one thought that the film might well prompt concerns the Curious reality that major movies about the Cold War were virtually non-existent during that almost 5 decades long Global standoff while younger viewers today may find the nuclear competition between communist Russia and the West distant and non-resident those who grew up under its shadow will surely recall the mood of tension and Gloom it made virtually omnipresent which is why its non-appearance as a dramatic subject in American movies of the era now looks strikingly odd apart from a rare satire like Dr strangel Love or a thriller like The Manchurian Candidate Hollywood almost seems to have been on a massive campaign to distract the nation from the looming threat of mutually assured destruction looking back a quarter Century after the fall of the Berlin Wall Spielberg eventually escorts us back to that great symbol of the division between the Free World and the captive East but he starts off making a useful distinction when Rudolph AEL Mark Ryland in a brilliantly honed performance the top Soviet agent in the S is arrested by the FBI and charged with Espionage Brooklyn Attorney James Donovan Tom Hanks is asked to defend him and Donovan's wife Amy Ryan voices her Fierce subjection to his defending a traitor but Abel is not a traitor he replies because he's not an American he's a spy the rosenbergs were traitors they betrayed their country this mention of the rosenberg's guilt will of course not endear Spielberg to some on the left but it subtly sets the film's moral compass at the outset suggesting that there was a basic difference between our side and there's just as there is between those who serve and those who betray with this established the movie proceeds to evoke an era where TV was black and white and reality itself often looked gray or muddly brownish in this Grim World Donovan's defense of able eventually take him to the Supreme Court and earns him the anger and hostility of many of his fellow countrymen but his battle to save him from the electric chair is effectively one much earlier when he says this to the first trial judge rather than executing Abel it's better to consign him to prison in case the US ever needs to exchange him for an equally valuable operative of our own Bridge of spies opens with a shot of a man looking in a mirror as he paints a nearly complete self-portrait the man is shot from behind we are not really seeing him we are looking at two Reflections one in glass and one in watercolors the truth is in the middle this duality of perception versus reality and eventually the concept of those three triangular points of interest reflection Man painting which looks similar but aren't quite will resurface in Bridge of spies a daring studied mannered true story that is at once remarkably genuine and deeply cinematic at the same time it's one of the best films of the year as he has done at least a a dozen times before Spielberg captures the Arc of a man who is caught up in something bigger than himself and somehow Rises to the occasion the man under pressure this time is Jim Donovan Tom Hanks an insurance lawyer called into duty by his government when the aforementioned painter a man named Rudolph Abel Mark Ryland is captured for the crime of Espionage against the United States on behalf of the USSR it is 1957 and the cold war is a constant concern adults still discuss the Rosen BS around the dinner table while Jim's children learn about how easily they'll survive nuclear fallout if they just Duck and Cover or fill their bathtubs with drinking water Donovan is asked to serve as ael's defense attorney by his boss Alan ala who just wants Donovan to be a warm body someone to sit next to the Traer to make sure the judicial process runs appropriately one gets the impression ay assisted by Hank's steely-eyed determination which recalls the movie icons of Cinema's golden age that Donovan has never just been a cog and a machine and so he actually tries to mount a defense for Abel arguing that the seizure of evidence was unconstitutional and making the case that the death penalty would be a politically bad move even if the public desperately wants to see AEL hanged Donovan argues that able not only represents valuable political currency which could come in handy if the US ever needs to negotiate with the Russians but also that Abel should be treated as we would want any American po to treat it in turn if you think about it AEL was just doing a job right he's not a traitor to his country isn't it the same job our men are doing around the world does that deserve the death penalty what message would that send regarding the treatment of our captured men around the world of course Donovan is right and the international picture gets more complicated when a pilot named Francis Gary pow's Austin Stow is captured by the Russians despite having no real experience in Espionage which is good because he can't be seen as a spy or even a representative of the S government Donovan is sent in to mediate The Exchange once again Donovan has difficulty doing the bare minimum in the tradition of the typical Spielberg protagonist Donovan is a man who doesn't only do what's asked of him he does more in Spielberg's vision of the world this is essential to the image of not only great men but also to the idea behind the United States and Theory our leaders don't simply do what's necessary they do what others tell them is impossible Spielberg's historical epics have always tended to this examination of overreaching greatness from Oscar Skyler to Abraham Lincoln from the very first scene which is executed with minimal sound design and no score Spielberg and his technical team work almost like ael's painting focused deliberate and remarkably quiet there's no score for 27 minutes until Donovan is followed in the rain facing his first realization that this Spy game is getting dangerous and Thomas Newman's effective work is used sparingly from there to a degree that might be offputting for some brought in by the advertisements that make Bridge of spies look like an action film this is a movie of dialogue and design more Tinker tayor Soldier Spy than Skyfall it's a film that builds tension through conversation as Donovan discovers that the world of Espionage is really about deal making and subterfuge we need to have the conversation that our governments can't an important player says this careful approach easily could have been sexed up into more of a traditional spy Thriller but but instead Spielberg chose to walk a delicate thematic tight RPP too studied and the film becomes dull too cinematic and it loses its realism to say that Spielberg negotiates that tit Trope as deafly as phelipe PTI would be an understatement you could take any scene from bridge of spies and examine it on two distinct but intertwined levels first look at the breathtaking attention to detail the costume design the sets and realize how lived in it all seems even the Donovan home Amy Ryan plays the concerned wife in a slightly underwritten role looks remarkably genuine this film does not fall into the typical period peace trap where it feels more like modern actors playing dress up than an actual Glimpse at history and yet Spielberg and his team find channels for cinematic Vision within that realism look at the color palette distinguishing the United States from Germany when Donovan gets to Europe everything is washed in Blue and Gray even East Germany has a different color scheme than West washed out by the ongoing building of the Berlin Wall every decision in Bridge of spies feels carefully considered informing both the realism of the piece and its deeply cinematic purpose that purpose is embodied in one of the best performances of Tom Hank's career it's a turn that is easy to take for granted at first Hank's reputation is Cinema's Everman is sometimes too broadly defined yes he rose to Fame by finding something inherent in the average man but he's also often the smartest and most morally upstanding man in the room like Henry Fonda he isn't just an Everman he's the best of the evermen this role takes that element of the Hanks Persona and puts it at the heart of the Cold War and even American foreign policy why was America the best country in the world after World War II because we had men like Jim Donovan and yet Hanks doesn't overplay that heroism finding the perfect balance between extraordinary and ordinary person Spielberg and Company even give Donovan a coughing sneezing cold in the Final Act highlighting that this flesh and blood man is far from Zer and7 Hanks is well supported by an equally great turn from Ryland the wonderful actor understands what Abel and Donovan see in each other they are both men following orders they are both men who refuse to take the easy way out and they are both men who can see the bigger picture easier than most knowing that it is the portrait that subsists not the real man it is the image the record the interpretation that goes in the history books at this point it would be easy to go on to praise Matt Charmin and Joel and Ethan coen's striking script or examine Janice kaminsky's color choices and Michael Khan's razor sharp editing but we've probably already surpassed praise overload suffice to say every technical Choice feels like the right one there are a few moments in the midsection of the film that feel a bit repetitive a few too many will Jim do the right thing conversations when we know damn well he will but it's a minor complaint especially when the film gets to Europe the pace pick up again and it never looks back since Steven Spielberg began making films in the 1970s he's become one of our most essential cinematic historians he's often characterized as a director of the fantastic and films like Jurassic Park and AI artificial intelligence certainly bolster this viewpoint but it is his ability to distill world events into relatable human stories and films like Munich skander's list Saving Private Ryan Lincoln and many more that has arguably been underrated throughout his long and varied career Bridge of spies continues that tradition in the best possible way that's what happens after a U2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers is shot down over Russia on May 1st 1960 Powers was not a soldier working for any branch of the US military he was a spy working for the CIA the story of the U2 program which had successfully brought the US invaluable intelligence in the preceding years the plane flew so high that until 1960 the Russians couldn't shoot it down is a fascinating one but Bridge of spies mostly ignores it and sometimes fudges the reality like when suggesting that powers was shot down on his first mission when in fact he had several years of successful flights behind him by 1960 but all this is understandable given that Spielberg's film remains focused on Donovan and his effort acting as a private citizen though at the best of the US government to get powers exchanged for AEL almost the opposite of a hectic noisy actioner like Munich Bridge of spies is a notably measured and quiet film Spielberg uses very little music the soundtrack almost seems hushed so that we can hear Donovan thinking or the snowflakes falling on wintry Berlin this restraint accented By Janice kaminsky's eloquently muted color cinematography not only fits the mood of the times it also seems to reflect Spielberg's confidence in the subtle intelligence of Matt Charmin and Joel and Ethan Cohen's script and the showy power of Tom Hanks Central performance there's a classicism here that again places Spielberg alongside John Ford in his contemplation of American character both National and individual nationally he tells us we are distinguished from other countries especially tyrannies like the USSR by our adherence to the US Constitution the dialogue relating this rhymes with that of John Quincy Adams speech at the climax of Amistad individually we sometimes produce men as principled and courageous as Jim Donovan who will stand against popular opinion and even the risk of ignominious failure to do what he feels is right you can imagine Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda playing this role but not any better than Hanks who again proves he's one of the great Screen Actors of this or any generation his work here helps make Bridge of spies another masterful Spielberg Excursion into US History though Michael alara's experimentor will get more detailed attention here when it opens theatrically later this month suffice it to note that it was one of the ni's most bracingly inventive films as well as one that like Bridge of spies concerns the role of science during the Cold War as idiosyncratic as Spielberg's movie is classical Al's exploration of the life and ideas of controversial psychologist Stanley Milgram starts out with an extended sequence in a 1961 Yale psych lab where one subject is told to give increasingly painful electric shocks to another if the latter gives wrong answers to multiple choice questions the shocks aren't real and neither are the reactions to them contrary to what the subjects are told the point of the experiment is to see how far people will go in obedience to an authority figure in this case a scientist in 1957 New York City Rudolph AEL is arrested and charged with spying for the Soviet Union lawyer James B Donovan formerly general counsel to the office of strategic services but now in private practice in insurance law is appointed to be Able's legal counsel committed to the principle that the accused deserves a vigorous defense he mounts the best defense of able he can declining along the way to cooperate in the attempts of the Central Intelligence Agency the successor to his former employer the o to induce him to violate the confidentiality of his Communications with his client Abel is convicted but Donovan convinces the judge to spare Abel the death penalty because Abel had been serving his country honorably and he might prove useful for a future prisoner exchange AEL is sentenced to 30 years Donovan appeals the conviction to the Supreme Court based on the lack of a search warrant for the seizure of able ciphers and photography equipment for his principal stand Donovan and his family are harassed including shots being fired at their home the conviction is upheld in a very close margin in 1960 Francis Gary Powers a pilot in the Sea's top secret U2 spy plane program is shot down over the USSR he is captured and sentenced to 10 years confinement including 3 years in prison Donovan receives a letter from East Germany purportedly sent by Abel's wife thanking him and urging him to get in contact with their lawyer whose name is voil the CIA thinks this is a back Channel message hinting that the USSR is willing to swap powers for AEL they unofficially asked Donovan to go to Berlin to negotiate the exchange he arrives just as the Berlin Wall was going up Crossing into East Berlin he meets with a KGB officer in the Soviet Embassy and is then directed to vojo who represents the Attorney General of the German Democratic Republic East Germany the Attorney General seeks to swap able for an American graduate student named for derck prior who had been arrested in East Germany in the process the gdr hopes to gain official recognition by the United States the CIA wants Donovan to disregard prior but he insists that both prior and Powers be swapped for able in a message to the attorney general he Bluffs that they will either release prior with powers or there will be no deal the exchange of powers enable is to take place at the kenic bridge with prior to be released simultaneously at Checkpoint Charlie tension builds as prior fails to arrive the CIA still primarily concerned with powers tell AEL he can go but Abel out of respect for Donovan's dedication to both his own case and securing prior's release refuses to move it is confirmed that prior has been released and the exchange takes place the next day back in the United States the government publicly acknowledges Donovan for negotiating the deal rehabilitating his Public Image now talk about development Bridge of spies is an American German co-production based on a script written by Matt charman and the Coen Brothers 101 Studio bburg co-produced and oversaw Production Services for the film 12 James Donovan wrote an account of the incident in 1964 under the title strangers on a bridge the case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers 13 the historical background to the U2 incident and the story of former West Berlin CIA Chief William King Harvey and operation gold was published in Rory McLean's Berlin portrait of a city through the centuries 2014 14 Soviet intelligence officer Rudolph Abel who lived and operated in Brooklyn Heights did dead drops of stolen documents in Prospect Park his arrest and history were discussed by Truman capod another Heights resident at the time in his book a house on the heights Charmin became interested in Donovan's story after reading a footnote about him in An Unfinished Life John F Kennedy 197 1963 15 after meeting with Donovan's son in New York City Charmin pitched the story to several Studios and DreamWork spoted Studio co-founder Steven Spielberg became interested in the film and decided to direct 16 Mark Platt and christe mosco creature attached themselves as producers along with Spielberg Joel and Ethan Cen r charm's original script 17 according to Charmin the brothers were able to really punch up the negotiations on the back end of the movie then they handed the Baton back to me to do a pass after they did their pass to make the movie just sit in a place we all wanted it to the flavor they brought is so fun and enjoyable it needed to be entertaining but truthful 15 in May 2014 it was announced that Tom Hanks would Star as James Donovan with Mark Ryland co-starring as AEL Ryland had previously been offered a role in Spielberg's 1987 War film Empire of the Sun but he declined 18 Ryland considered the Coen Brothers revisions to the screenplay to have substantially improved his part stating that looking at the two versions it was like looking at the first and second cordos of Hamlet 18 Amy Ryan Alan Alder Billy Magnuson and Eve Houston were reported to star in the film as well 1920 participant media co- produced the film 21 Francis Gary power Jr founder of the Cold War Museum and the Pilot's son was brought on as a technical consultant and has a cameo in the film in June 2014 Fox TW pictures agreed to co-finance the film with DreamWorks and participant media with the film's distribution rights being divided between Disney and fox three during a March 3rd 2015 interview with the daily Pennsylvanian Platt revealed the title to be Bridge of spies it was shot under the working title of St James Place 22 the film also received funds of €3.7 million from the German Federal film fund dff now talk about filming detail principal photography began on September 8th 2014 in Brooklyn New York City 24 on September 14th filming took place in dumbo a Brooklyn neighborhood where crw transformed anchored Street to appear as it did in the 1960s 25 to 26 on September 15th filming took place in atoria between a Storia Park and dimer's Boulevard filming was done on 18th Street and 26th Avenue in atoria where Spielberg was spotted transforming the five corners Delhi into a 1950s grocery store 270 28029 on September 26th filming took place on 44th Street in Manhattan as evidenced by Cruise stationed on 44th Street between Madison and 6th Avenues on September 27th Hanks was spotted filming scenes on Wall Street among extras wearing 1960 costumes 30 on September 28th filming of someday and night scenes took place on the corner of Henry Street and Love Lane in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn where the block was set with vintage cars street signs rain machines and spotlights 31 on September 29th filming took place on Hicks Street and pineapple Street where a shop perfect pause was transformed into a 1960s dress shop named Brooklyn Pearl 32 and at the na appella division Courthouse house on Monroe place in pant Street on October 6th Hanks and the crew were spotted on the same location on Hicks Street 33 the scene in the court hallway in which Donovan to Waters consternation announces his intention to appeal the guilty verdict was filmed on the first floor on the Queens County Supreme courthouse at 8811 suin Boulevard Jamaica New York in early October after filming wrapped in New York City further production began at bburg studios in Berlin and poton Germany and would continue there through the end of November 3D 4 to35 filming in Berlin began with shooting at the former Temple Hoff airport in October for scenes that actually took place there such as Donovan's descending from a historic c-54 skym 36 The Prisoner exchange scene was filmed on the GIC Bridge the so-called Bridge of spies where the historical exchange actually took place in 1962 now talk about box office collection Bridge of spies gross $ 72.3 million in North America and 93.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $165.6 million against a budget of $40 million about critical response Bridge of spies received critical Acclaim on Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 91% based on 316 reviews with an average rating of 7 7010 the site's critical consensus reads Bridge of spies finds new life in Hollywood's classic Cold War Espionage Thriller formula thanks to reliably outstanding work from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks 62 on Metacritic the film has a score of 81 out of 100 based on 48 critics indicating Universal Acclaim 63 on cinemascore audiences gave the film an average grade of a on an app plus to f scale 60 Richard rer of Chicago Sun Times gave the film four out of four stars and praised Spielberg's Direction saying Spielberg has taken an important but largely forgotten and hardly action packed slice of the Cold War and turned it into a gripping character study and Thriller that feels a bit like a John lar adaptation if Frank cpra were at the controls 64 Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune called the film a confident slightly Square highly satisfying example of old school Hollywood craftsmanship starring a major movie star brandishing a briefcase and a handkerchief rather than a pistol the AV club's IGN vishnesky described it as one of the most handsome movies of Spielberg's Latter-Day phase and possibly the most eloquent Bridge of spies turns a secret prisoner exchange between the CIA and the KGB into a tense an often disarmingly funny cat and mouse game 66 Thomas soel of the French newspaper lemond praised the film for hearkening back to classic American Cinema noting Spielberg's virtuosic illustration of the Mech isms of Cold War politics 67 on the other hand Mike Scott of the New Orleans times pyun had a more mixed reaction saying Bridge of spies with its stop and go momentum is also more merely interesting than it is fullon riveting it's still quite good stuff but despite its impressive pedigree it doesn't feel as if it's quite the sum of all of its parts 68 Preston Jones of Fort Worth Star Telegram gave the film two and a half stars out of five Jones wrote that for all Spielberg his star packed cast led by Tom Hanks and his onscreen and offscreen team Joel and Ethan Coen Co wrote the screenplay bring to the table Bridge of spies is remarkable only for how stuffy and surprisingly inert the film becomes e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] B [Music]