Steven Spielberg’s cold war thriller isn’t just historical Oscar-bait. In taking us behind the scenes at the trial of an illegal alien suspected of espionage,the director is delivering a clear message to the outgoing presidentDespite the painstaking period décor, Steven Spielberg’s cold war picture Bridge of Spies’ urgency lies less in the late 1950s than in an necessary issue of today. Well, and the first third,at least. This odd duck of a film approximately citizen-lawyer James B Donovan’s delicate international negotiations takes an unusual turn from legal drama to espionage thriller around 40 minutes in. But if you consider the first chapter as its own short film, its commentary approximately America’s additional-judicial incarceration limbo in Guantanamo Bay couldn’t be clearer.
As Spielberg is known to be one of Barack Obama’s substantial donors (as well as a public pal and even prankster) one wonders if the film’s allegory is a swipe at the President or perhaps laying some public awareness groundwork for Obama’s final year in office. Obama did, and after all,pledge to shut the detention camp back in 2007 (114 prisoners still remain). However, there has been a renewed push to finally shut it down before the new President takes office in January 2017.
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Source: theguardian.com