Bridge of Spies

[Combanitorics]

I just went to the movie Bridge of Spies, which I suppose was good enough to call "art", at least if you happen to like movies.
I wonder if anyone else has seen it.  What did you think?  During the first half of the movie, there were a few scenes in which God came up in a cultural context.  The first happened in the court room when Rudolph Abel was sentenced to thirty years in prison, and the spectators jumped to their feet shouting "Why in the name of God isn't he being hanged?"  The second was when the CIA officer giving Gary Powers his mission told him and the other pilots "Don't talk to anyone about this, including God."
What do people think of this portrayal of God as part of American culture?  Does it reflect your own experience? What do you think of Rudolph Abel and Gary powers?  Was Abel honerable to continue denying that he was a Soviet spy?   How do you feel about Gary Powers being expected to die with his plane if shot down, or to commit suicide if he risked being captured?
Did you think it was a good film overall?

[Fake Messiah]

To me Spielberg is dead after "Super 8" and "Transformers 3". I promised myself never again to watch a movie which Spielberg produced or directed. His movies for a long time now are garbage and Tr3 is not just bad movie, not just worst movie ever made but deliberately bad movie. It's so offensively bad that it's like black magic; like when you know how to make something right and then use that knowledge to do bad, worse, worse as you can and shit on the audience and shit on them.

And "Super 8" was JJ's blowjob to Spielberg. An idiotic movie made out of Spielberg cliches and sold as a tribute to infantile movie directors. Fuck you Steve and your fucking beard!

[Clueless Morgan]

Did you think it was a good film overall?

I enjoyed it. It told a story I wasn't familiar with and kept me interested in it.

I liked Tom Hanks on Jimmy Fallon doing Kid Theater:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/858297

What do people think of this portrayal of God as part of American culture?

Whatever.

Does it reflect your own experience?

General lip service given in things that could be considered turns of phrase, I guess. I reference heaven and hell in a similar way in that I don't actually believe they are real places, but more like metaphorical things that people generally have an understanding of so they understand the sentiment of the statement.

What do you think of Rudolph Abel and Gary powers?

I only know of them what I saw of them in the movie so I don't know that I have an accurate or even a very informed opinion on them.

Was Abel honerable to continue denying that he was a Soviet spy?

I don't know. On the one hand, he was already widely assumed to be one by the general public, and by the initial set up of his character in the movie was definitively shown to be one so is there honor is lying about something that's an open secret? Not really. But on the flip side, wasn't he on trial for his life? he might have been clinging to the hope that if he didn't confess to being a spy he might escape with life in prison or something. or, because of his blasé attitude, he might not have felt that confessing would get him anything since he was likely going to be put to death anyway, so why confess?

How do you feel about Gary Powers being expected to die with his plane if shot down, or to commit suicide if he risked being captured?

I feel like that's a lot of ask of a person, but given that it was asked and he had the (apparent*) opportunity to turn down the mission if he didn't like the requirements, then how I feel about it doesn't really matter. He made the choice to participate.

* I say apparent because I don't know the specifics of how the mission was actually proposed to him. In the movie (IIRC) the mission was proposed to a group of pilots and they could agree to participate or not but they had to say so in front of each other so there's an element of peer pressure there. Do you want to look like a chicken in front of your brothers in arms? No, so you agree to a mission you don't like that may cost you your life.