Film No. 74 (2015) October 15th. 6.30 PM GREATER UNION Innaloo
"You remind me of someone, a friend of my father's. Every time they beat him up, he'd get back up. Standing man, standing man" (Rudolf Abel describes his impression of the man assigned to defend him, James B Donovan).
Tom Hanks has done as much for the American psyche in the last 30 years through film as his character in Bridge of Spies, James B Donovan did in the 60's for U.S. hostages held in communist countries. Hank's patriotic spirit shone through in The Green Mile, Castaway, Forrest Gump and Apollo 13 and while I'm not American, Hanks brings me closer to feeling like one. Bridge of Spies, in the hands of Hanks takes us on the ultimate patriotic ride. Once again, it is a great ride. The movie ranks with his best.
I knew nothing of James B Donovan prior to Bridge. Bridge of Spies tells the story of the emergence of Donovan from being a competent insurance lawyer to an extremely valuable international hostage negotiator. It would seem many thousands of US citizens owe their freedom to the work of Donovan in the 60's and 70's. For me, this is the reason I found Bridge of Spies so riveting. That and the effective way Spielberg and the Cohen brothers combine to build magic into the development, via clever scripting, of the relationship between Donovan and Abel (Mark Rylance)
So we begin with Rudolf Abel, he was captured as a Russian spy, was tried, jailed then became a pawn in a major international incident involving a US airman and student who'd both fallen into the hands of the communists. The fact that the U.S. government then used a lawyer (Donovan) not trained in the field of international treason but who knew right from wrong makes the story of an emerging American hero intriguing.
The combination of Spielberg and Hanks could spell melodrama of the cliched kind, and it does in a way but there is balance. Importantly, because of the pedigree and the money poured into the film, vast numbers of movie goers world wide will learn about a little known hero of the humanist kind. James B Donovan is worth knowing about. The film does something of a Readers Digest job on some of the facts related to the story but that's often the case with film. He's such a good guy is Tom Hanks. 10GUMS
I knew nothing of James B Donovan prior to Bridge. Bridge of Spies tells the story of the emergence of Donovan from being a competent insurance lawyer to an extremely valuable international hostage negotiator. It would seem many thousands of US citizens owe their freedom to the work of Donovan in the 60's and 70's. For me, this is the reason I found Bridge of Spies so riveting. That and the effective way Spielberg and the Cohen brothers combine to build magic into the development, via clever scripting, of the relationship between Donovan and Abel (Mark Rylance)
So we begin with Rudolf Abel, he was captured as a Russian spy, was tried, jailed then became a pawn in a major international incident involving a US airman and student who'd both fallen into the hands of the communists. The fact that the U.S. government then used a lawyer (Donovan) not trained in the field of international treason but who knew right from wrong makes the story of an emerging American hero intriguing.
The combination of Spielberg and Hanks could spell melodrama of the cliched kind, and it does in a way but there is balance. Importantly, because of the pedigree and the money poured into the film, vast numbers of movie goers world wide will learn about a little known hero of the humanist kind. James B Donovan is worth knowing about. The film does something of a Readers Digest job on some of the facts related to the story but that's often the case with film. He's such a good guy is Tom Hanks. 10GUMS
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