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Bridge of Spies | 2015 | PG-13 | - 1.5.5

Based on the 1960 U-2 spy plane incident: An insurance lawyer (Tom Hanks) is enlisted to defend a Russian spy during the Cold War era. He accepts the assignment, but discovers that he must then lead the negotiations for a prisoner exchange when a US pilot is shot down and captured by Soviet troops. Also with Alan Alda, Billy Magnussen, Amy Ryan, Jillian Lebling, Noah Schnapp, Austin Stowell and Will Rogers. Some lines of dialogue are spoken in German without subtitles. Directed by Steven Spielberg. [2:22]

SEX/NUDITY 1 - A husband and his wife hug and kiss.
 A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage. A man wears a tank T-shirt and jockey-type underwear as many armed agents break into his room. A man in a jail cell is wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts.

VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - Several people run and try to climb a wall and are shot dead by armed guards (we see the bullets spray dust and dirt from the wall and the ground and there could be some blood spray but the seen is dark) and they fall to the ground as people riding by on a train watch in horror.
 A pilot in a plane mid-flight is shot from the ground and the plane is struck; the pilot struggles to set a self-destruct sequence and the cockpit wind screen blows off pulling him out of his seat and he dangles outside the plane by a tether, he then deploys his parachute, pieces of the plane in flames fall around him and we next see him in a courtroom being sentenced to 10 years of confinement in Russia.
 Gunshots ring out and break through a window as a teenage girl watches television in her home; the bullets strike a chair near her and we see stuffing burst into the air as she screams and crawls under a table (she is not harmed) and we see a car speeding away outside and her father runs to the second floor to see that his other children are safe.
 A young man sleeping in a prison cell is awakened and taken to an interrogation room where bright lights are shown on him; the same young man is shown being awakened again and this time buckets of water are thrown on him as he is being questioned. A young man is shown in a prison cell in a few scenes and one scene shows the ceiling open to the elements with a grate securing it and an armed guard patrolling in a tower above him. A man in a jail cell is awakened and led out of the cell; he is seen wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts as he is led down a hallway.
 A guard at a border crossing pulls a camera off a young man's neck and the young man winces in pain; the guard questions the young man and strikes him in the stomach with a gun butt and he falls to his knees as a young woman nearby calls out and cries. Many armed government agents break into a man's room and he comes out of the bathroom looking surprised. Several men follow another man along city streets and into a subway train, then through a station where they push through crowds of people and lose the man, and then one man runs into him again. Several government agents search a man's room. A man follows another man on a dark street, the first man hides behind a parked car and the second man looks for him, and then finds him. Four snipers train their guns on men gathering on a bridge (two from either side) during a hostage exchange.
 A man walking on the streets of East Berlin is surrounded by several young men who speak to him in German and English and they exchange his expensive coat for directions to an embassy. Many people in a court room become angry and yell when a sentence is assigned. Press members surround and shout questions at an attorney and his wife as they leave a courtroom and we see many flashbulbs on the floor; some are shattered when stepped on. A man speeds on snow-covered streets and is pulled over by police who take his passenger away for a "passport problem."
 Two men argue about an insurance case where the driver of a car struck and injured 5 motorcycle riders. A husband and his wife argue about his job. A police officer confronts a man about defending a Russian spy and he acts in a threatening manner before being escorted away. A man tells another man that he could be facing a death sentence and talks about the electric chair. We hear reports of a plane crash in Russia and the death of the pilot. A man describes his house being overrun and his mother, father and another man being beaten mercilessly; he describes the other man as being struck to the floor repeatedly and that he would continue to get up. A man tells another man that he should be careful of gangs on the streets in East Berlin. A man describes a high security spy mission to several young men and shows them a plane that they will be flying outfitted with large cameras; he goes on to tell the pilots that if they are taken by the enemy, that they should "spend the dollar" which is code for using a pin soaked with a potent poison and kill themselves. A man describes a "destructive charge" in an airplane. We hear that people are shot when trying to cross from East to West Berlin and the line is called the "death line."
 A young boy talks to his father about what happens when an atomic bomb explodes and shows a diagram of the range of destruction including their home, saying, "It melts everything." A man talks about a thermo-nuclear exchange between the US and Russia. A man tells another man that he will be sent to the electric chair for spying. A man is shown taking an polygraph test.
 Children in a classroom are shown a film reel depicting what happens with an atomic bomb explosion and the children's faces are shown with fearful expressions as one young girl cries. We hear a remark about a bomb shelter. A film reel advises people to drop and cover during and explosion. Children in a classroom are shown standing with their hands on their chests and reciting the pledge of allegiance.
 We see a wall being built in Berlin to separate East from West and people scramble to cross the line before the wall is completed; several people dangle from windows along the line and drop to the ground below (we do not see any injuries). We see bombed out buildings in East Berlin.

LANGUAGE 5 - At least 2 F-words, 1 scatological term, 1 anatomical term, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (homicidal, knot-head, traitor, coward), 3 religious profanities (GD), 8 religious exclamations (e.g. Good Lord, God Willing, In The Name Of God, Oh My God, My God, Jesus, a man begins to pray before a meal with "Lord we thank you").

SUBSTANCE USE - A man shows a pin that is apparently soaked with a high potency poison and tells pilots to use it to kill themselves if they are captured by the enemy. Two men drink what could be whiskey in a lounge, two men chat in a bar and each have a glass of what could be whiskey, people at a bar are shown with drinks in front of them, a man is shown with a glass of whiskey at a dinner table and his wife has a glass of wine (neither is shown drinking), two men drink whiskey in an office and one man asks for more, a man pours and drinks alcohol in tea, a man pours two glasses of brandy and they both drink, a man in a hotel room has a bottle of liquor on a table near him and pours several glasses (we do not see people drink), a man says that he will have a Vodka when he gets home, and a woman offers a man a scotch and he holds the glass while another man drinks from his own. A man smokes a cigarette as he comes out of his bathroom, a man smokes a cigarette while standing on a street, a man smokes a cigarette in a few interrogation room scenes, a man lights and smokes a pipe in an office, several young men smoke on a street corner, and a man gives another man a pack of cigarettes and lights one for him (we see the man smoking).

DISCUSSION TOPICS - The Cold War, espionage, the Berlin Wall, communism, prisoner exchange, CIA, the U2 spy plane, the American justice system, patriotic duty, high level security, the Constitution of the United States, loyalty, conspiracies, legal representation, death penalty, music, art, family, civil liberties, the electric chair.

MESSAGE - Cold War can be very difficult to survive.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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