Post #5 (In Class Write)

1.)     The movie Bridge of Spies is jam packed with historically accurate information. The audience can learn a lot of historical accurate information about the Cold War and the Prisoner Exchange from watching the film. The audience will be able to learn about Rudolf Abel, Gary Francis Powers, and James Donovan. The characters that are playing the roles of these key people do an amazing and accurate job of portraying the people in real life. This is very important for the audience to see, because they are getting a real historical depiction of the characters. The movie is also filled with a lot of historical information that is very accurate, such as the U-2 spy plane, Glienicke Bridge in Berlin, and the Soviet spy hollowed out quarter.             
        The director Steven Speilburg does an an amazing job with the historical accuracy of the movie. The character Rudolf Abel was an amazing artist in real life and enjoyed painting. He lived in his studio apartment in Brooklyn, where he did most his work. In the movie we see Rudolf Abel painting in jail, his apartment, and in the city of Brooklyn. This shows the audience the importance of painting to Rudolf Abel, and that it was historically correct in the film. Another major piece the audience can learn about history, is the accuracy of the U-2 spy plane. In the movie the air crew learns about the details of the spy plane, such as its maximum height capacity is 70,000 feet and that the plane wings were very flimsy. This gives the viewers a better understanding of what the U-2 plane was and how it helped American during the Cold War.  All of these details can give the audience a good depiction of what was going on during the Cold War and what took place during the prisoner exchange between Rudolf Abel and Gary Francis Powers. Another very historical accurate piece of the movie was the trial scene. All of the information, and evidence that was used in the trial was very historically accurate, such as the sentencing, his three accounts that he was charged for, and the permit to such his apartment.  All of these pieces can give the audience an accurate depiction and understanding of what really happened during the Powers-Abel prisoner swap.


2.)   Overall the movie was historically accurate. One of the biggest pieces that was left out of the movie, was "how Abel came to America as a spy and his background story". During my research I found out that, Rudolf Abel came to America in 1948 by crossing the Canada-American border. He also went by the name of Emil Goldfus in the Brooklyn art community. These are very important pieces of Rudolf Abel's backstory that were left out of the movie, because they give the audience better and more detail about, who the "Master Spy" Rudolf Abel really was?
       Another large piece of the story that was missing in the movie "Bridge of Spies" was the American presidents. Neither president Eisenhower nor president John F. Kennedy were not mentioned in the movie at any point of time. I believe that both of these men were very crucial pieces to the American Cold War. After the exchange happened, President Kennedy awarded James Donovan with more opportunities to negotiate American prisoners with other countries. I believe that President Kennedy was a major part in the Cold War, and should not have been left out of the movie "Bridge of Spies".


3.) If the movie was extended for 20 more minutes, I believe Steven Speilburg, would have added the background story of "what happened to Rudolf Abel, Gary Francis Powers, and Fredric Pryor when he returned to his home country." After the three prisoners are exchange, the movie concluded with James Donovan (Tom Hanks) going home and falling asleep on the bed, while his three children watch the news of the prisoner exchange that has just happened on national tv. The audience never really never knows what happens to the the other three major characters once, they are exchanged on the Glienicke Bridge. During my research, I found that Rudolf abel was returned to his family. Gary Francis Powers, went on to work for a news company, flying helicopters. He was also awarded with the Silver Star in 2012 and the USAF POW medal in 2000. Fredrick Pryor went on to get his degree in Economics from Yale. He is now a teacher at Emeritus University. I believe adding this would leave the audience in ease, and not wondering what happened to the characters.