MovieChat Forums > Bridge of Spies (2015) Discussion > did you too think he was being poisoned?

did you too think he was being poisoned?

posted 9 years ago by diego8080
8 replies | jump to latest

Hello Guys,

there's lots of things I didn't quite like about this movie or, more precisely, I thought could be handled better, like the total luck of conflict and suspanse..

Anyway, I would like to write better about this later. At the moment I just wanted to ask if you got the same impression too, when he was constantly coughing and drinking whyskey

(there is a precise scene also where he drinks the glass offered while the russian host doesn't drink and watches him doing it ..)

anyway, just a curiosity.

[–] enigma-lake 9 years ago

So you want him poisoned and then what? Would that have made the movie better? Movie was fine as it was. Not playing into tropes

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 9 years ago

Ha ha. I thought the same thing. Everytime he took a drink from someone else, I kept expecting it to be poisoned 

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] DazeYaVoo 9 years ago

Maybe the threat of poisoning supplied some suspense for viewers, but ....

That crossed my mind the first time he took a swig from a proffered drink, but then realized, that in real life or the movie, it would have been pointless and damaged any credibility for prisoner exchange.

[–] diego8080 9 years ago

thanks for replying and sorry I didn't see it before.

I am glad someone else had the same feelings

[–] bigdaddyboxmeal 9 years ago

This was my understanding. It was there as a small view into the general unease of the era with regards to US-Soviet relations.

I don't think there was ever a danger of poisoning, but the drinks were always offered and the small danger was always there hanging in the air. A nice touch, I thought.

[–] neerood 9 years ago

Yes there was some odd handling there. Donovan's cold was constantly being mentioned in the script, but ended up being mostly irrelevant, like a Checkov gun that stays put.

And he was drinking almost too constantly for a man otherwise presented to be so reserved and proper and sober. I can justify it to myself as being appropriate to the time and place.

Like you, when the camera pans to the drinks and the emissary's hands are shaking, it ends up feeling like the viewer was duped into thinking there was some significance by the deliberateness of the shot.

[–] inanytime 8 years ago

Donovan was drinking for warmth not for getting drunk. He looked at the emissary's hands not because he was afraid of getting poisoned but because he was eager for a drink after walking in the cold without his overcoat. And then he quickly finished his drink and asked for another one without caring about politeness because he was desperate for the warmth it offered.

[–] MysticGoddess327 8 years ago

The host actually did drink, and I think drank first.