Movies

Bridge Of Spies: A Must-See Legal Thriller

If you’d like to be a part of a stunning cinematic experience, take a break from your billable hours to watch Bridge of Spies.

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What’s the last good lawyer movie you saw? For me, it was Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Bridge of Spies, which opens in theaters this weekend. Thanks to DreamWorks, I had the opportunity to see a free screening of the film, and it was so magnificent that I’d pay to see it again.

Warning: This review contains spoilers, in so much as history and case law are spoilers.

Inspired by the real-life tale of James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks), an insurance attorney turned international negotiator, Bridge of Spies is set in 1957, during the height of the Cold War. While schoolchildren are learning how to protect themselves from nuclear fallout by ducking beneath their desks, Donovan — a partner at Watters, Cowan & Donovan who once worked as a prosecutor during the Nuremberg trials — is dealing with a crisis of his own. Donovan has been appointed to represent Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), a suspected Soviet spy living in New York who’s been charged with espionage and treason, even though he hasn’t practiced criminal law in more than a decade. A senior partner at his firm assures Donovan that criminal law is “like riding a bike,” and with that, we’re taken on a powerful journey that tracks the rule of law and its importance to our society as a whole.

In the wake of the Rosenbergs’ execution in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage, the ravenous American public, in a seemingly constant state of fear and paranoia, is starving for a guilty verdict and is desperate to see Abel put to death. Despite having been painted as a traitor’s sympathizer, Donovan clings to what really matters: upholding the U.S. Constitution and ensuring that Abel receives a fair trial, no matter the cost to his reputation and his family. “Everyone deserves a defense,” he says. “Every person matters.” Unfortunately, Donovan loses at every stage of trial and appellate review, including his final plea to the Supreme Court. His only success was in convincing a judge to let Abel live, if only as a political bargaining chip should one later be needed to deal with the Russians as the Cold War continues to unfold.

Donovan’s impressive advocacy skills come in handy later, when he’s asked by the CIA to negotiate a covert prisoner exchange. An American U-2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet airspace, and its pilot, Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell), was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Donovan is tasked with orchestrating a spy-for-spy trade — Powers for Abel — in Berlin, when he learns that an American student has been arrested and is being held without bail. Donovan, a lawyer whose dedication to justice leaves him unable to leave a man behind, attempts to secure freedom for all who are involved.

This is a film that will surely resonate with the legal community, and litigators especially. Tom Hanks brought the law to life like no other actor could, and his work in Bridge of Spies is reminiscent of that of two other actors who once portrayed great legal luminaries on the silver screen: Gregory Peck’s performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird and Spencer Tracy’s performance as Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind. Here, Hanks’s rendition of the dutiful civil servant who truly believes that there can be justice for all pairs all too well with his realistic portrayal of a law firm partner. In one scene, you can see a glint of pleasure in his eyes as he asks a young associate to stand up a date and instead perform legal research late into the night. Perhaps less realistic was a scene where Hanks delivered a moving argument before the Supreme Court — but wasn’t interrupted a single time. Given today’s near constant and persistent questioning by justices during oral arguments, an uninterrupted monologue is something that could only happen in a movie.

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In a special question-and-answer session with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks that took place after my screening of Bridge of Spies, Hanks spoke as to why he believes his character, James Donovan, took Rudolph Abel’s case to begin with, and Spielberg delivered important advice for lawyers across America.

Hanks discusses why advocacy is a “part of the American consciousness,” and closed his statement by referring to James Donovan as a “bad-ass negotiator.”

This is Spielberg’s inspiring message on how to “effect change and make a difference.”

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If you’d like to be a part of a stunning cinematic experience that’s sure to result in several Oscar nominations, a film that succeeds in turning a once-hated lawyer into an American hero, then you should take a break from your billable hours to watch Bridge of Spies.

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