Steven Spielberg’s cinematic virtues splendidly on view
AFTER WORKING on complicated wartime movies like “Saving Private Ryan” and “Schindler’s List,” ace filmmaker Steven Spielberg may have had his fill of the challenging film genre—but, there was “something” about the story of “Bridge of Spies,” his latest production, that made him decide to take the cinematic format on again:
This time around, the action is set in Berlin. There’s no raging war in vicious progress, but a more sinister and secret conflict for dominance between the United States and the Soviet Union, aptly referred to as the Cold War.
A Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel, has just been caught in the States, and an American pilot, Francis Gary Powers, has been shot down in Eastern Europe—and the time comes when a swap of captured spies is decided on.
Trouble is, the exchange is so delicate that both sides don’t want to officially figure in it, so the role of (unofficial) negotiator falls on a “faceless” lawyer, James Donovan, played by Tom Hanks. That way, if the furtive move fails, nobody with an official visage and important position loses face.
That plot line may sound less daunting to dramatize than an all-out, slam-bang war film, but it has its own complex requirements that, in lesser cinematic hands, could easily result in the production of a flop.
But, Spielberg is such an astute and versatile filmmaker that he smoothly changes tack and employs an alternative arsenal of subtle but still psychologically powerful filmmaking skills. Instead of outright and bloody conflict, he shows both warring superpowers fighting for supremacy on the faceless frontiers of diplomacy and espionage, where one is used as a secret but potent weapon of the other.
The alternative war they’re fighting may not be loud and bloody, but its outcome could lead to the deaths of many thousands on either side, so the stakes are as high as if a global war is clangorously in progress.
The film’s hold on viewers’ empathetic attention is further firmed up by Spielberg’s choice of “every man” actor Tom Hanks as the “hidden” and unsung legal hero who makes the “impossible” exchange of spies happen, despite opposition to it in high places—on both sides.
Thus does the drama and Hanks’ insightful portrayal convincingly show that heroism in wartime isn’t exclusively exemplified on the field of battle, but can also be the outcome of one principled man acting on his seminal convictions.
Other cinematic virtues splendidly on view in “Bridge of Spies” include a virtuoso alternation between storytelling and presentational styles, with Spielberg masterfully going from big scene to small, telling moment.
He also shifts from powerfully dramatic sequences to seemingly offhand and even comical asides to drive home the key theme that heroes aren’t fated or born, they become exemplars when they summon up the courage—to vivify their convictions!
Finally, “Bridges of Spies” is its director’s tribute to and showcase for actors, with his large cast of stars and cameo players each coming up with an insightful and prismatic characterization.
Starlets and acting students would do well to watch this film for its thespic richness and diversity—and its cast should win a best ensemble performance award at year’s end!