Para Reviews: Bridge of Spies

Wow. Why are all the good movies the one with Tom Hanks as the main character?

Anywho, our movie begins with a painter who is followed by several people.

He finds a hollowed out nickel that holds a paper with numbers. Not long after, we meet the people who followed him. Turns out, the CI A were after him as they believed he was a spy.

We then change scenes to meet our hero, portrayed by Tom Hanks.

Donovan (Hanks) is an Insurance Attorney who has been asked to take the case of Mr. Able. (The painter in the beginning)

Donovan is unsure about this but is pressured into it.

After a few meetings with Mr. Able, Donovan grows attached to Able and decides to try and help the man as much as possible.

While all of this is going down, the CIA recruit a bunch of pilots to fly over Russia and gather intel. The first Pilot that was sent out was a man known as Powers. (NOT Austin.)

Able is found guilty of the charges and Donovan successfully convinces the Judge to lessen the sentencing. Instead of death, Able is sentenced to 30 years in jail.

Not long after that, Powers is shot down over Russia, and Donovan is informed that they may be able to trade Able for Powers. He is also told that the negotiations will be held in Berlin.

Donovan gets to Berlin to begin the negotiations, and finds that a wall has begun to be put up through the city. We then meet a man called, Porter, who is apparently a student from America. He is captured by the Germans and Donovan wants to free him too.

The next bit of the movie is Donovan going back and forth trying to secure the deal. Both the Germans and the Russians are uneasy about this, and eventually, they decide to trade Powers and Able at a bridge while Porter is to be handed through checkpoint Charlie.

However, the Germans and Porter don't seem to be where they need to be. Donovan doesn't want to go through with the trade, but he isn't in charge at this point. Able says 'standing man' in either Russian or German and tells Donovan that he can wait.

The Germans finally arrive with Porter and the trade is successful. Donovan stands on the bridge to watch Able drive away.

Donovan finally goes home to Brooklyn and goes to bed. (He kept saying that that's all he wanted to do.) Meanwhile, his family finds out just what he did in Germany. (and this is the part where a small dead thing known as Para's feelings start to wake) The next day, Donovan rides a train and watches some kids climb a fence, which reminds him of a group of people he saw die at the Berlin Wall.

Some captions appear to finish the story, explaining that the Russians denied Able being a spy. Powers died some years later and received many medals, Porter is still currently alive and is a professor at Yale. And finally Donovan is asked by Pres. Kennedy to help out with more negotiations. Ending with telling the audience that he was sent to the Bay of Pigs to discuss the release of 1,117 prisoners, and managed to free over 9,000 men, women, and children. (This is the part where Para starts to get liquid pride). And the screen fades to black.

. . . .

I liked this movie. It held so much emotion, and it was very deep. I wish I could've met Donovan, but, he's dead now.

Movie, you pass.

5/5 stars. Go watch it.

Also, yes, this was based on a real story. All the characters were real people.