DVD Feature: "Bridge of Spies"

"Bridge of Spies" has been on my to-buy DVD list for some time now, especially since I really enjoyed the film when I saw it last year and I know Paul would too! True-Story-Historical is really up our alley. Plus Spielberg and Hanks right? :) 

It also definitely helped that Mark Rylance won 'Best Supporting Actor' at the Academy Awards.

The DVD has 2 features, a 'Cold War' feature which even shares a personal Cold War story from Steven Spielberg's own father. Which also includes some interviews with some of the actual people who are part of this amazing true-to-life story. As well as what could be considered a good enough documentary of the time period. Definitely a great addition to the growing collection! 

BRIDGE OF SPIES Review: Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg team up for this Cold War thriller

I've always LOVED History and even if I no longer get to sit in a classroom and listen to my teachers; I still get to enjoy movies based on beautiful stories that weren't in our History books and with a master director such as Spielberg on the helm and Award Winning actor Tom Hanks in the lead you cannot go wrong.

A few months ago we saw The Man From U.N.C.L.E. which is a more colorful and lighter take on the Cold War along with the insanely handsome spies who skillfully dance from one side of the Berlin Wall to the next.

Bridge Of Spies is a more textbook accurate (as it is based on actual events) movie of the bleak and desolate conditions of the Cold War, the 'you-get-showered-with-a-rain-of-bullets- if you cross the wall kind of brutal reality. Where 'spies' are old men caught unawares in their underwear and without their false teeth.

While Uncle was a movie to entertain. Bridge of Spies is a movie to educate and to inspire.

Tom Hanks delivers another (as expected) impressive performance as Brooklyn Insurance Lawyer James Donovan who is given the task of defending alleged Russian spy Rudolph Adler who is played by actor Mark Rylance.

In a surprise twist, Uncle Sam finds himself planning a classic prisoner-exchange (between Adler and Powers) when their very own U2 pilot Gary Powers is shot out of the sky while doing a reconnaissance mission and the man to do the job-none other civilian than James Donovan. Now Donovan is doing a dangerous tango from one side of the Iron Curtain to the next as he tries to appease not just one but three governments and tries to bring home not one but two Americans.   

Rylance was a surprise crowd favorite and stole the show with his stoic and nonchalant attitude (perhaps a requirement for spies?) were both endearing and subtly funny, you would end up rooting for him.   

It takes a while for the actual juicy part of the story (the tense negotiations) to take place but the scenes leading up to it are all relevant and are not boring or dragging at all. I really enjoyed the flight and escape sequence which was very detailed and intense.