BRIDGE OF SPIES (Rated PG-13)

Five years of Cold War espionage, with the attendant fallout from cloak-and-dagger machinations and public trials of captured spies, have been compressed by director Steven Spielberg into the compelling two-hour plus taut thriller “Bridge of Spies.”

The film’s title derives the nickname given to Glienicke Bridge, a restricted border crossing from the communist Eastern Bloc into the American sector of West Berlin, which will eventually feature prominently in the climactic scene.

During the 1960s, after the construction of the Berlin Wall that became the symbol of the oppressive totalitarian state of the East, Glienicke Bridge served as a spot for the exchange of prisoners between East and West.

The infamous bridge may be best known historically for the prisoner exchange engineered by New York insurance lawyer James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks), which allowed the United States to retrieve U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) in 1962.

“Bridge of Spies” opens in 1957, when the Red Menace presents clear-and-present danger in the Cold War tensions and school children duck and cover during classroom drills accompanied by films about thermonuclear devastation.

A seemingly mild-mannered Brooklyn resident spends much of his time painting portraits and outdoor landscapes. But he proves to be Colonel Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), a Soviet spy arrested during a rousingly staged FBI raid of his apartment.

A former Nuremberg prosecutor and skilled negotiator, Donovan is tapped by the head (Alan Alda) of his prestigious law firm to provide the defense for Col. Abel in a trial overseen by a hardly unbiased judge (Dakin Matthews).

At first, for the obvious reasons of incurring public wrath for defending an enemy agent, Donovan is reluctant and unwilling to take the case. His wife Mary (Amy Ryan) and three children are equally unenthused by an assignment that could put the family at risk.

In the end, dedicated to the principle of a person’s right to a trial even though convinced he lacks a winning hand, Donovan undertakes the defense of the Russian spy, losing his case both in the original court and upon appeal, but at least avoiding the death penalty for his client.

Knowing that he would be unpopular did not deter Donovan from upholding his end as defense counsel. There are terrific scenes of him riding the subway to work while people read the morning papers featuring his picture and eye him with contempt. This underscores the barrister’s courage.

More than others in or out of the government, Donovan understood that sparing the life of the convicted spy would someday serve the interests of his country in the event an exchange of prisoners would be necessary.

The story shifts to an American air base in Pakistan where Powers and other pilots are being trained by the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct aerial observations over Soviet territory with U-2 spy planes, which are designed to fly at altitudes unreached by fighter jets.

In May 1960, Powers is shot down over Soviet air space and captured by the Russians. He’s convicted in a Soviet courtroom of espionage and sentenced to three years in prison with an additional seven years of hard labor.

Having been prescient in saving Abel’s life, Donovan is tapped once again into service, this time as a private citizen using the Soviet spy’s incarceration as a bargaining chip to seek the release of Francis Gary Powers.

Leaving home on the false pretense of a fishing trip, Donovan ends up in Berlin, risking his life in the Russian sector to negotiate with stereotypical East German and Russian functionaries.

When East German street thugs steal his overcoat, Donovan ends up with a bad cold and runny nose which only fuels his desire to make a quick deal so he can return home to the comfort of his own bed.

But such desires are complicated by the fact that during the construction of the Berlin Wall, an American student is captured by the East Germans and accused of spying. The student’s capture sets more hurdles in the negotiation process.

As Donovan shuttles back-and-forth between West and East Berlin, he witnesses the terrifying and brutal nature of the Communist regime gunning down East Germans trying to escape to freedom by scaling the Berlin Wall.

Witnessing the barbarity of the East evidently pushes Donovan to insist that there would be no deal for Abel unless the student is also included in the swap with Powers. Some of the CIA handlers object, only wanting to get Powers back.

The tension builds as Donovan is put in the uncomfortable position of having to deal with the Russians and East Germans, whose interests don’t always neatly coincide as one would expect of these allies.

And so it comes to pass that a predawn exchange on Glienicke Bridge is fraught with great tension as the Soviets and Americans meet with their respective captives, and Donovan holds out until the East Germans hold up their end of the bargain.

“Bridge of Spies” is a terrific thriller made all the more exciting because Tom Hanks once again plays the Everyman to perfection in a role that only someone like Jimmy Stewart could have once played. 

History buffs, in particular, should find this Steven Spielberg film an immensely satisfying and absorbing real-life espionage tale that makes for great Cold War melodrama.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.