The Federal Court put the decision of who would defend Rudolf Abel in the hands of the Brooklyn Bar Association, and they chose James Donovan. This was portrayed in the movie just like how it was in real life. It showed how Donovan was asked to do this job and executed it. People around Donovan were not happy he was defending a “red” just like how it shows in the movies, he was stared at and questioned. Even his wife wasn’t okay with his need to defend this man. It was all perfectly portrayed in the movie causing a reality check within the watchers, showing them the truth of what happened, all the risks and chances Donovan had to take. The building of the wall and the division of East and West was perfectly portrayed. The scene showed the true brutally without it being too much. Yes, there may have been a few minor changes within the movie; however, key aspects were kept, showing how it really went down between the Soviet Union and the US.

The acting was very well done due to Able’s ability to keep that much tension within his face and be able to speak and act loose and at ease. The German soldiers by the wall also showed how stern they had to be to keep the East and West apart. The actors around Donovan showed a sense of hatred and anger, but he never lashed out. I thought this was very well done. It could be seen that the spots for actors were very well thought out because that about of tension and stress takes talent for that much power to be felt within a watcher.

Abel and the person cast for his role were very similar. It was amazing how close they look alike. The casting for that role was very critical, and the decision to cast that actor as Abel was an amazing decision. I felt as I was watching the movie, truly, that the tension and fear between these two powerful countries were real. Donovan’s actor was also a really good choice because of his wide ranges of expressions and the sense of realness within him. Whenever Donovan went from a funny moment to a serious one, it was always done to perfection. The actor made the movie seem real to me. The tension and stress portrayed within his face were amazing, showing what it must have been like.

Script and cinematography: The script was very well written. The words and script held power behind each word, and they seemed as if they were picked carefully. It was as if they represented the true stress that was upon those people at that time. The script had a few jokes and was placed at the right time. The only issue I had towards the script was that when the Germans would speak to Donovan or when the college student was trying to communicate, there were no subtitles. I didn’t really like that I wanted to know what they were saying to each other and not being able to do that upset me. There were many scenes where this happened. The scene and surrounds were amazingly portrayed, not only did it look great and intense, but it felt so also.