The Bridge of Spies, 2015

November 14, 2022 | LISA LENTINE

The movie Bridge of Spies directed by Stephen Spielberg tells the true story of Francis Gary Powers (played by Austin Stowell) who is an American Pilot and was captured in the middle of the Cold War in 1957. After being captured, he was set up to be put in prison for a decade. However, he does have a friend who is a lawyer, by the name of Jim Donovan (played by Tom Hanks) who is set to help him get out of his sentence. There is a group of military drivers that are being put in charge of doing investigations on the enemies during the cold war as part of the CIA. They have three weeks to complete this task. Donovan goes to Berlin in an effort to save Powers from going to jail. The United States and the Soviet Union are against each other and fear each other's nuclear power, as they are close in supply and power. Both sides are sending out and hunting for spies. Abel eventually comes home without anyone finding out about him being a spy. Donovan’s job was done successfully and Powers’ status stayed anonymous. While keeping his name out of the media light in the midst of being in the war, Donovan will do whatever necessary to do his job and keep Powers out of jail while keeping his family back home from worrying about his well-being and representing his country well.

Donovan is a lawyer that is assigned to defend Francis Powers during the Cold War. Jim Donovan has a wife and children at home that are also his responsibility to care for and quiet any worry they have about him. At the dawn of the war, Donovan goes into his family bathroom to find his son running the bath full with a sketch of where the bombs are estimated to land. He goes on to describe how when the war starts and the sirens go off, they will not have time to prepare electricity or water supply, which is why he had a bath full as well as all of the sinks full. His reasoning, as stated, was that when the war starts, the government will turn off their electricity and water. His father (Hanks) then asks him how there is no reason to worry about their water or electricity or access. The child then goes on to describe how the attack from the Soviet Union is anticipated to go. The son then talks about how his father is defending someone from Russia, and how that person is working with someone who is working with the Soviet Union to attack the United States. His son says “I don’t understand what you’re doing. You’re not a communist, so why are you defending one?” (Spielberg, 2015) To which the father’s response was “Well, because it’s my job.” (Spielberg, 2015) The father’s logic in this case is that all he has to do is whatever his job needs, and all other consequences are off because as long as his job is done, he can do whatever is necessary.

Early in the movie, Powers is in his house alone, in his underwear. The police break into his house without warning to question him about what he knows about The United States in the Cold war. When we meet him in this scene, he is in his bathroom in a white tee shirt and his underwear, smoking a cigarette. He asks if he could have a moment to put his teeth in. He does not get an opportunity to put regular clothes on, but he does get the opportunity to put his teeth in. He is questioned and interrogated by the police. The goal here is to get information from a holder. In this case, it does not matter the state that the information holder is in or what violations must be made (his house being broken into and his clothes not being on) as long as the information is taken from the source. The information was received, which in Kantian ethics, is all that mattered.

Donovan is an investigator working with the German spies in the war. He tells his wife, who tells his kids, that he is going on a fishing trip. This is to keep his wife and kids from worrying about him. He is gone for an unknown amount of time in the cold war, and manages to escape the media so that his cover is not blown. When he returns home, his children immediately turn on the television to a news reporter, essentially, blowing his cover and revealing his last name and how he was away working with the spies. This relates to Kantian ethics because in Donovan’s case, he simply told his wife and kids that he would be going on a fishing trip so that they would not worry about him. This is disregarding their concern for his well-being, and somewhat his own well-being. “As long as they know this, I’m fine.” The categorical imperative (a moral obligation that depends on nothing and is regarding all possible conditions, i.e, an end-all, be-all) here would be his honesty on where he is going. It does not matter what he says, as long as his family has an idea of him being safe in their minds.

Donovan was assigned as Powers’ lawyer in the Cold War. Late in the movie, he was eating breakfast in a restaurant with Thomas Watters, discussing Donovan’s plan with Powers. Donovan had proposed a certain German resource that they could refer to that could support them in the case with Powers, to which the man he was speaking with replies “You can’t talk to that guy. We're set with the Soviets, we don’t want to screw it up.” (Spielberg 2015) The person in question was a German man, who if they were to work with, would have the potential to help them have a big advantage in the war. However, it could also count as betrayal in the war, and would turn very bad if the Soviets were to find out. They had a ready and open resource, but considering they were working with a group that could easily turn against them if the Americans did it first, they could not. In Donovan’s mind, he was simply doing his job and supporting Powers, but little did he realize that this “support” would possibly backfire and end up hurting him. Knowing they have the Soviet Union that they are working with, they knew it would be too high of a risk. Since the United States and the Soviets were neck-and-neck with power in the war, if the United States were to associate with a spy from the other side, or get help from the wrong person, they would face extreme consequences.

Donovan was working with a man by the name of Rudolph. His mother came to Donovan worried sick but also ecstatic to know that she could possibly see her husband again. She was told that he was an exchange for another person essentially being held hostage, and he would be away from his family indefinitely. The mother was then told this in German by an interpreter, and she proceeded to break down in tears at this news. In this case, the end product would be the people being held by the government on both ends, who each hold information for the government, and withholding them from the people they are loved by the most is justified because of their job, similar to Donovan going away to Germany. In this case of this type of ethics, it doesn't matter who the person is taken away from and what consequences are involved, as long as the government's job gets done. A wife's love for her husband is immeasurable and incomprehensible to anyone besides another wife, so the government will never truly know how she feels. This ties back to Donovan as well because he knew what he was doing to the woman and her husband, but he still had to let it happen for the sake of his job.

Donovan had a huge responsibility as a lawyer during the cold war. He had a family at home but also a job that he had to commit to. Keeping his spy friend safe in his journey in the war and remaining a patriotic representative of the United States was his biggest challenge in this movie. Balancing what is morally correct to get his job done and managing priorities of who needs to be helped, as well as keeping his family safe and calm involved making a lot of sacrifices during these few weeks that ultimately tested his dedication to his job and family. Sacrificing others’ loved ones ultimately had to outweigh him doing his job and keeping Powers away from the media. He was looked down on by so many by his actions, but in the end, it really depended on doing his job as a lawyer and keeping Powers out of jail, which he had done successfully.

Additional Resources

Articles:

Bizarro, Sara, Hotel Rwanda — Kant and Moral Agency

Kassner, Joshua, The Moral Obligation to Intervene in Rwanda

Nyarenchi, F, Nyandoro, G.O. & Mecha, E., Film and the Construction of Ethnic Identity and National Difference: A Comparative Analysis of Hotel Rwanda, Shooting Dogs and Sometimes i n April.

Ethics on Film: Discussion of "Hotel Rwanda"

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