Bridge of Spies (on DVD)

Bridge of Spies
[DVD Bridge] 

If I had one regret in my life, it would probably be that I didn’t pay sufficient attention to my history lessons in school. Seeing movies like Bridge of Spies helps spark that interest in history that I never really had before.

Tom Hanks plays Jim Donovan, an insurance lawyer assigned to defend a man, Rudolf Abel, who is accused of being a Russian spy during the height of the Cold War. While Donovan is mainly chosen because he’s skilled and will do what he’s told, it never occurred to his boss and the Attorney General that he would actually go above and beyond the call of duty to not only Defend Abel in the original trial, but also to appeal and then to fight for a prison sentence, rather than execution. Despite the fact that it puts himself and his family in an unsavory position, Donovan gives it all he’s got–and then some!

Tom Hanks is brilliant in this movie, of course, and it was wonderfully directed by Steven Spielberg…. but my favorite person in the whole movie is Mark Rylance, who plays Rudolf Abel! I saw this in the theater and couldn’t wait for it to come out on DVD to have my husband watch it, as well. Being the son of a history teacher, I knew he’d appreciate it–and he did!!!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Big Short, starring Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale, Argo, with Ben Affleck, John Goodman and Alan Arkin, or The Wolf of Wall Street, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie.]

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Recommended by Tracy T.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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