Taglines: In the shadow of war, one man showed the world what we stand for..
In 1957 Brooklyn, New York City, Rudolf Abel retrieves a secret message from a park bench and reads it just before FBI agents burst into his rented room. He prevents discovery of the message, but other evidence in the room leads to his arrest and prosecution as a Soviet spy.
James B. Donovan, a lawyer who specializes in insurance settlements, is asked by his partners to take on Abel’s defense. The United States believe that Abel is a KGB spy, but want him to have a fair trial to reduce the Soviet Union’s opportunity to use it for propaganda. Donovan meets with Abel in prison, where the Soviet agrees to accept his help. Abel refuses to cooperate with the US government on any revelations of the intelligence world.
Although Donovan takes his work seriously, no one—including the prosecuting attorneys, the judge, his firm, or his family—expects him to mount a strong defense of Abel. His efforts to seek acquittal are met with shock and anger by the American public; he is deluged with hate mail and his life is threatened, but he continues to fight.
Abel is found guilty of all charges, but Donovan convinces the judge to sentence him to 30 years imprisonment, rather than death, on the grounds that Abel may one day be valuable as a bargaining chip with the USSR. Donovan subsequently appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court that the evidence presented by the prosecution is tainted by an invalid search warrant.
He invokes the rhetoric of the U.S. Constitution and republican leaders who founded the Government. They made a legal justice system possible, an objective system where cases would not be subject to whims of fear and trepidation. He reminds the Court how resolute Abel is in not divulging any classified intel, and asks if the United States should stand as strongly, and protect the legal system for what it is. He loses 5–4.
Bridge of Spies is a 2015 American historical drama-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay written by Matt Charman, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. The film stars Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, and Alan Alda. Based on the 1960 U-2 incident 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 pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union—in exchange for Rudolf Abel, a captive Soviet KGB spy held under the custody of the United States. The name of the film refers to the Glienicke Bridge, which connects Potsdam with Berlin, where the spy exchange took place.
The film was shot under the working title of St. James Place. Principal photography began on September 8, 2014, in Brooklyn, New York City. Touchstone Pictures will release the film in North America on October 16, 2015, and 20th Century Fox will distribute in the remaining territories.
Bridge of Spies
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Austin Stowell, Eve Hewson, Sebastian Koch, Haley Rawson
Screenplay by: att Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Production Design by: Adam Stockhausen
Cinematography by: Janusz Kamiński
Film Editing by: Michael Kahn
Costume Design by: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Set Decoration by: Rena DeAngelo, Bernhard Henrich
Music by: Thomas Newman
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some violence and brief strong language.
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Fox
Release Date: October 16, 2015
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