Bridge of Spies

Four Stars (out of four)

So, this is a movie I have been eagerly anticipating.  It's funny how things can work out sometimes.  A movie that is about the Cold War; and with the way current events are shaping up in Syria and Ukraine and with Putin pushing a very nationalistic agenda, we may be seeing a return to those days much earlier than any of us thought.  I grew up during the Cold War, long after these events took place, but not so much so to remember and appreciate the context this movie was steeped in.  And, it is dead on.  To younger audiences that were born in the 80's, it may seem inconceivable how the geopolitical dynamics played out then, but the movie perfectly captures these dynamics perfectly.

The movie is based on real events.  After Soviet spy Rudolph Abel (played very mensch-like by Mark Rylance), is arrested, an insurance lawyer, James Donovan (Tom Hanks), is appointed as his attorney to demonstrate to the USSR that Abel will get a fair trial, thus showing our moral mettle.  After taking the case to the Supreme Court, Abel unsurprisingly gets a very stiff sentence.  Meanwhile, U2 pilot Gary Powers is shot down over the USSR and gets a similar stiff sentence from the Soviets.  People from both sides are screaming for blood and the mood on both sides of the world is tense.  Donovan is sent to East Germany as a private citizen to negotiate a trade.  Since the trade can't be acknowledged by either government, there is a lot of skullduggery going on.  In the meantime, a US graduate student is arrested in East Berlin, further complicating the matter because the German Democratic Republic (the GDR or East Germany) wants to score points with the USSR by getting their man back and by stressing to the US that the GDR is not a doormat for the USSR.  Donovan decides to get both US citizens released and eventually does.

The reason I gave the ending away is that it is all a matter of historical record and isn't what the movie is really about.  It is about the context of the events in question, public sentiment on both sides, and most interestingly, the geopolitical power dynamics at a crucial point in world history.  It was incredible to watch, particularly in regards to the GDR.  The movie takes place just as the Berlin Wall was going up, and for those of us born later in the Cold War, it is easy to forget that Germany was caught in the middle of all this, shortly after losing WWII.  They didn't necessarily like the Soviets, but they had little control over their fate because of the war they started recently ended in defeat.  While they had to accept their lot in a much grander drama that overshadowed them, they would not go quietly.  The GDR makes the negotiations difficult until the movie implied that the Soviets leaned on them.  In this, we see the beginning of the real subjugation of East Germany under the Soviet yoke.  Essentially, we see the Soviets telling the GDR they are no longer a sovereign nation.  As Orwell said after the uprising in his book Animal Farm, "Of course all animals are equal.  Just some are more equal than others.". All of this is played out in microcosm through this spy exchange, and would establish a new world order that arguably still exists today.  It is a brilliant, yet understated presentation on how the Old World order died, a final casualty of WWII and marked the ascension of the US role in world affairs from then on.

But the movie is more than that.  It also brilliantly portrays the US/USSR battle of ideas/moral codes and our mutual distrust.  It is also quick to point out the hatred between us was very real, but both sides understood the consequences of missteps.  It portrays the mutual animosity and the quid pro quo nature that dominates our relationship even today.  And considering Russia's new-found belligerent ambitions to reclaim the prestige they lost in the 1990's, we may be traveling down the road portrayed in this film again for a new generation.

As I said, this is not a particularly dramatic film, but one of subtlety and nuance.  At first, I was underwhelmed, as Spielberg's movies tend to be bombastic.  But as I think more and more about what I saw, the more I see that it is fantastic story, penned by the Coen brothers of Fargo and No Country for Old Men.  The fact the story is true is icing on the cake.   This movie is measured, takes its time to highlight the details.  The details are all-important here, so it is not required for the movie to lambaste us.  This is truly an adult, intelligent film; a species of growing rarity in Hollywood.  It is movies like this that remind me as to why I still love  them.  Vacuous crap like The Lego Movie makes me despair, but movies like this restore my faith in the state of today's storytelling.  Leave the kids at home and see this.  Or bring them to learn something about where we have been and maybe where we are going.

The Martian

3.5 Stars (out of four)

And so the new crop of good movies for Oscar season continues.  Many people have said The Matian is Director Ridley Scott's Apollo 13 or a love letter to NASA and science, and those people are not wrong.  This movie could not have come at a better time for beleaguered NASA, and I am pretty sure the recent discoveries on Mars were timed to coincide with it.  Now, I can't tell you if the science is perfect in this film, but I can tell you it is one hell of a ride.

The Martian begins with our fourth manned mission to Mars.  After a week into a month-long mission, the landing site is hit by a huge storm and the crew is forced to abort.  As they are trying to get back to the ship, astronaut Mark Whatney (Matt Damon) is struck by debris and disappears into the storm.  He shows no life signs so the crew takes off without him.  It turns out, though, Watney did survive and after the storm, makes it back to the habitat.  He is injured, but manages to pull through.  He then has to figure out how to make supplies for six people for 30 days last for five years until a rescue mission can come and get him.  That is, of course, if he can find a way to communicate with Earth since the communicator dish was destroyed...

So, the movie is a bit like Apollo 13 meets Castaway.  But is is so much more than that.  Like Apollo 13, it stresses that none of this is possible without a great amount of teamwork; this time, on a global scale.  Scott shows why he is such a great director here by ratcheting up tension, injecting humor in all the right places, keeping a breakneck pace, showing the enormity and complexity of the problems quickly, and makes you want to go hug your old science teacher all at once. It is immensely entertaining and not to be missed.  There are no good guys and bad guys, no nefarious agendas, just a bunch of very smart people who are working toward common goal.  And it is a massive advertisement for NASA, still the coolest and nerdiest government organization that really knows how to sell itself.

The Martian is one of those great movies that is a testament to the human will to survive.  It is an acting tour de force for Damon, since he is alone throughout most of the film.  He delivers most of his exposition through a series of video logs that allow us to take stock on his personal situation at important points.  It is actually an ingenious bit of storytelling to keep us grounded in Whatney's psyche.  It brings real emotion and a human element to his situation that is critical for us to care what happens to him.  It connects us in a very real way, whether you see him clowning around, updating us on his progress and plans, or venting his frustration.  In the end, it comes down to Damon and his performance in these oddly intimate moments that make this movie work so well.  

The only real complaint I have is actually not with the film, but the source material.  It is a little too convenient what jobs Whatney has. He has precisely the set of skills he would need to do everything.  He is a botanist and engineer, meaning he sits at the perfect intersection of growing things and fixing everything on the ship physically.  He's Superbrain!  But, while the movie does come up with some limitations he has that are overcome later, I ultimately felt it was a little too neat.  I realize that all members in NASA are crossed trained in other missions as well, but Whatney seems to have every conceivable skill he would need to survive his ordeal.  But in the end, this is a very minor criticism to what is an excellent movie.  See it as soon as you can.  You won't be disappointed.