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.
