During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.
When all the international parties finally meet up at the shadowy titular bridge, we get to witness humanity - and classic filmmaking - at its finest.
– Mara Reinstein,
Us Weekly,
19 Oct 2015
fresh:
Bridge of Spies connects Cold War paranoia to today's terror. That's a bridge worth building.
– Amy Nicholson,
L.A. Weekly,
22 Oct 2015
fresh:
Spielberg and Charman frame Donovan as a thin bulwark against the American government's attempts to work around its own supposed ideals at the height of the Cold War.
– David Sims,
The Atlantic,
23 Oct 2015
fresh:
Authentic re-creations of the period, including duck-and-cover clips about a nuclear holocaust that frightened young students, serve as a reminder of a time, not unlike our own, when the threat of terror kept a steady and disturbing beat.
– Nancy Churnin,
Dallas Morning News,
6 Nov 2015
fresh:
Bridge of Spies is a heart-on-its-sleeve affirmation of American values -- not in the loaded contemporary sense of the term, but in the way the country was founded on values we have to work and fight to abide by.