If you want to get a glimpse of how Generals Ayub Khan and Zia ul Haq allowed the country to be used as a conduit for the Cold War against the Soviet Union, you must watch at least two movies starring Tom Hanks in the lead role. Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) and Bridge of Spies (2015) are more or less accurate in their historical perspective and impressive portrayal of the people who used bases in Pakistan to further an American cause that would not only bring the Soviet Union to its knees but also lead Pakistan to its present sorry state.

Bridge of Spies, directed by Steven Spielberg, is set in 1957, at the height of the Cold War. A possible nuclear showdown was lingering, and both the US and the USSR were keen on getting more inside information about each other’s nuclear capabilities. One Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance in an Oscar-winning performance), is caught in New York and charged with espionage. Lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is tasked with defending the accused in the court of law so that justice is seen to be done.

The late 1950s was a time when the US was tightening the noose around the Soviet Union, and military rulers in countries such as Pakistan were are all too eager to offer their services in exchange of support for their dictatorial regimes. General Ayub Khan had allowed American spy planes to fly from Badaber air-base near Peshawar to enter the Soviet territory and take photographs of their secret installations. Bridge of Spies beautifully captures the training given to American pilots poised to become spies for the CIA to keep track of any nuclear activity occurring in the Soviet Union.

While Donovan is trying to defend Abel who never admits to any wrongdoing, CIA agents harass Donovan to tell them what information Abel is sharing with him but he refuses to cooperate. Though the film makes it seem like the spy drama in New York and preparations for reconnaissance flights are going on almost at the same time, in reality there was a gap of a couple of years between the two activities. The pilots are brought to the Peshawar air station to see the U-2 planes after the military takeover in Pakistan that took place in October 1958.

Even American children were not spared by their government in its hysteria against the potential Soviet attack on the USA; schools were asked to show videos of nuclear explosion and its aftermath, and children were taught to be ready for such an eventuality creating the same mass paranoia that results in people’s intense dislike for Donovan in the film as they think that he was trying to defend an enemy of the state. By the end of the trial, Abel is found guilty of all charges; spectators want a death sentence but Donovan convinces the judge to give him a 30-year prison sentence.

Donovan’s prescience tells him about the possibility of an American spy being caught in the USSR, and he foresees a possible spy exchange with the Soviet Union. Soon, Francis Gary Powers -- one of the pilots involved in the USSR mission -- has his plane shot down by a ground-to-air missile that the US didn’t know even existed. When Powers is captured by the Soviet Union, an opportunity comes up for a spy exchange to trade Abel for Powers. Now, Donovan is requested to lead the negotiations in East Berlin. He manages not only to get Powers but also another American, a university student, who was held captive by the East German government on espionage charges. The film is an intense watch as it shows the construction of the Berlin Wall, and people being shot while trying to enter West Germany.

In comparison, Charlie Wilson’s War is a subdued show with its overemphasis on personal traits rather than on a broader picture. Charlie Wilson was a Congressman and among his most prized possession was the Stinger, a missile that precipitated the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. The film has plenty of women who adorned Charlie’s office and were nicknamed Charlie’s angels.

Then there is Joanne Herring -- an influential former beauty queen -- played by Julia Roberts in one of her worst performances. Add Gust Avrakotos (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), an ultra-smart CIA manipulator, and in no time you get the trio celebrating the defeat of the Soviet army in Afghanistan. To give it a tinge of intellectualism, Gust warns Charlie of future problems if members of the Congress do not follow up on giving economic aid to Afghans. Here, the movie tries to make a distant reference to the emergence of the Taliban in the wake of collapsing law and order in the country.

The German-born director, Mike Nichols who had given us a raunchy but memorable flick The Graduate in 1967, made a good effort to bring the shenanigans behind the Afghan War of the 1980s to our notice. But the three Oscar winners -- Hanks, Roberts, and Hoffman -- fail to compensate for the film’s over-simplistic narrative which wants us to believe that rather than Presidents Reagan and Zia (played by Om Puri) with their entire CIA and ISI machineries did not play as much a role as the protagonist.

An ace with a queen and a joker may trounce a card game but in real life the war between the two super powers had much more to it than what is depicted in Charlie Wilson’s War. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin sprinkles a lot of one-liners here and there and a substantial comic flavour to the movie but the overall presentation with too many slips in tone wrecked the picture that could have been compelling. The Congressman is shown deeply flawed, as he was; and his interactions with the CIA operatives are supposed to make the film a comedy but the film hardly touches the level of sarcasm expected of a good movie.

Fortunately, the film doesn’t bore you and manages to condense George Crile’s 2003 bestseller within 95 minutes. The script is witty in places highlighting the difference that one relatively obscure Congressman from Texas -- with the lifestyle of a libertine -- can make. Perhaps, the funniest scenes in the movie are where this licentious American politician interacts with a pious General Zia who refuses to serve him whiskey at the President House in Islamabad. The poor Congressman makes do with a glass of juice; and without being put off at his host’s religiosity, manages to provide the Zia regime with deadly Stinger missiles that land in the hands of the so-called Afghan Mujahedeen.

Bridge of Spies is a far superior movie to Charlie Wilson’s War; though both have Hanks in the lead. Probably the difference was Steven Spielberg. Despite their varying ratings, both are worth watching; the first for its sheer beauty of a period drama, and the second to get some insight into how General Zia enjoyed a good relationship with licentious politicians for they served his purpose.