Friday 9 September 2016

Bridge of Spies revisited

Having see Bridge of Spies again I want to clarify two points.   If you have read my previous post on this film (Who's who on the Bridge of Spies, 5/12/15) you will know the true identity of  the spy ‘Rudolph Abel’.      Obviously the CIA/FBI were ignorant of this until after the fall of the Wall, and must have been somewhat embarrassed by the way they were fooled by the man they had caught.   Spielberg must have been aware of it, but maybe he was persuaded by the powers that be, or by his own patriotism, to hide this fact.    Nor is it referred to in the documentary ‘extra’ on the DVD.   However, early in the film Donovan is told that ‘Abel’ has a false British Accent, and asked if he is ‘keeping it up.’   Donovan says that he thinks it is real, and that ‘we think he might be British’.  Who ‘we’ are is not made clear, not is why this is thought to be the case.   So maybe Spielberg simply wanted to signal the truth, that ‘Abel’ was not Russian – in fact was not Abel.                                    
The film does not tell why this man was under surveillance either.   It was not due to his faulty ‘tradecraft’.    He was betrayed by his subordinate, an incompetent drunkard in danger of being shipped back to Moscow.   But this man did not know his boss’s  identity, so all he could do was set up a ‘dead-letter drop’ and tell the FBI where it was.   The FBI would not have followed their target from his home or work place.  They would not know where they were.  If they had they would have raided them straight away.    So they would have put the riverside bench under surveillance until their target arrived and then followed him home.     

I share Donovan’s admiration for this British born Russian spy, who did his duty well,  refused to betray his own cause and was prepared to serve 30 years in jail  - or be executed - in order to keep his secrets.  


I have now seen The Spielberg/Rylance BFG and loved it too.