THE COURIER : Tuesday 13th April 2021.

I saw 'THE COURIER' last week, which is an M Rated UK and US Co-Produced historical drama film Directed by Dominic Cooke, whose prior film making outings take in two 'National Theatre Live' performances for 'The Comedy of Errors' in 2012 and 'Follies' in 2017, with 'On Chesil Beach' in 2017 and three episodes of the TV mini-series 'The Hollow Crown' in 2016. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival way back in January 2020, was released Stateside in the US on 19th March, in the UK not until 17th May and here in Australia earlier this month having generated US$8.5M at the Box Office so far and generally favourable critical Reviews. 

Based on a true story that played out in the early '60's between the United States and the Soviet Union as both countries threatened one another with the might of their nuclear arsenals. In Moscow, CIA agents are a rare commodity, and the US has become hungry for more and more intelligence on Russia's next move. Russian military intelligence officer, Colonel Oleg Penkovsky (aka Alex, codenamed Ironbark, and played by Merab Ninidze) makes the very risky choice to defy his country in an attempt to halt all out nuclear war. Penkovsky is able to smuggle a message into the US Embassy in Moscow which lands on the desk of CIA Agent Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan) who then travels to London and meets with her counterpart in MI6, Dickie Francis (Angus Wright). Together they hatch a plan to enlist the services of someone who can hide in plain sight and be completely inconspicuous in helping to courier Penkovsky's leaked intel out of Moscow and into the waiting hands of the CIA and MI6. Their cunning plan rests at the feet of businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch), who has absolutely zero experience in the intelligence community and as such is unlikely to draw attention to himself as he goes about his work of drumming up new business avenues in Moscow. Over lunch, the three discuss their plan, and Wynne accepts the offer without truly appreciating what he has committed himself to. 

Wynne travels to Moscow and gets through customs no questions asked. He checks into his hotel and within a couple of days is meeting with a delegation of businessmen with whom he is hoping to develop business relations with so that all sides can gain a benefit. At that meeting is Oleg Penkovsky who invites Wynne for lunch, and then the opera and so the relationship is cemented having noticed a tie clip that was given to Wynne by Agent Donovan back in London, saying that he should wear it all times while in Moscow.

And so the story of subterfuge and international espionage ensues with Wynne playing the everyman businessman being wined and dined by the Russians, and in return he pays it back when the delegation of Russian's visit London on a famil. Wynne certainly knows how to turn on the charm and entertains his Russian guests with good food, plenty of liquor and a rousing time showing them the London club scene and all the trappings of a western capitalist society, with his wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley) also in attendance. All the while he and Penkovsky are exchanging 'contracts' for their undercover business dealings which in reality are top secret Russian military documents being drip fed back to the CIA and MI6. 

As Wynne spends more and more time toing and froing between London and Moscow so Sheila becomes increasingly suspicious - even more so because he has adopted a fitness regime and has become more adventurous in bed - and because we learn Wynne was at some point in the past unfaithful to his seemingly dutiful and forgiving wife. Shortly afterwards Penkovsky is paid a random visit in his Moscow office by a KGB Officer Gribanov (Kirill Pirogov) who begins asking probing questions about Wynne. Penkovsky states that he just a capitalist western salesman looking to make money by trading with Russia and that there is nothing to fear, and so Gribanov leaves apparently satisfied, for now! 

Khrushchev is becoming increasingly restless with America's placement of nuclear warheads in Turkey making them within easy range of Moscow. And so he seeks out a location on America's doorstep that would make US soil within easy reach of Russia's nuclear capability - Cuba. And so Penkovsky ramps up his supply of intelligence to Wynne providing documents, plans, drawings and maps of nuclear installations, long range rockets, and the fallout projections of an attack on the US. Shortly afterwards Penkovsky collapses in his office one day seemingly suffering a heart attack. He is seen recovering in hospital days later with his wife by his side, having been told by a nurse that he will make a full recovery and is just exhausted and worn out. 

Following this, Wynne returns to his hotel room to find that a Collins pocket Russian/English dictionary had been misplaced from the position he left it in when he exited earlier in the day. He suspects that his room had been searched and is now bugged. With the Russians seemingly now closing in and the Cuban Missile Crisis gathering real and potentially deadly consequences for the western world, Penkovsky agrees a time line for he and his wife and young daughter to defect. An escape route is planned and Donovan travels to Moscow to coordinate his extraction. In the American Embassy Wynne and Donovan watch the unfolding reports in Cuba on the television. With this, they spring into action with Wynne catching the next plane outta Dodge, and Donovan coordinating Penkovsky's extraction on the ground.  

As Penkovsky rushes to his modest apartment to gather up a few possessions and his wife and daughter to flee the country once and for all, he is greeted by Gribanov and a contingent of KGB personnel. Gribanov states that he poisoned Penkovsky which put him in hospital so that he could search his home and his office while he was out of action temporarily. There he found all the evidence needed to prove his guilt of feeding intelligence to the west. Gribanov asks Penkovsky to tell his wife and daughter what he had done, and knowing full well that his time had come he says that he betrayed his country and is a traitor. At that, he is physically manhandled out his apartment, leaving his wife distraught and sobbing. Meanwhile, Wynne is sitting anxiously in his seat on the plane waiting for takeoff. A message comes over the PA system apologising for the deadly in the takeoff. At that KGB Officers board the plane and order Wynne out of his seat and to accompany them. He is bundled into the back of a waiting vehicle. Donovan is arrested too by KGB authorities for driving the vehicle that was to transport Penkovsky out of the country, but she has diplomatic immunity and is later dropped off at the American Embassy and told she has 24 hours to leave the country. 

Wynne is carted off to a prison facility - his head is shaved, he is stripped naked, body searched, is given a cold shower and thrown in a basic cell with a cast iron bed, a couple of blankets and a bucket filled with the previous inmates urine and faeces. He is repeatedly interrogated by Gribanov and given water thin soup with a few chopped carrots and eyeballs with which to sustain himself. Time marches on as the weeks turn into months. 

Donovan and Francis visit Sheila at her home and break the news that Wynne had been arrested and was in prison in Russia. She, like Penkovsky's wife, was completely unknowing. They ask her to vehemently deny any rumours or speculation about her husbands alleged spying activities to the press or media and to carry on as though this is all a storm in a tea cup. After six months, and a dramatic loss of weight and nearly at breaking point, Wynne is visited in his prison by Shelia, who asks for her forgiveness for ever doubting him. She also tells him that the Cuban Missile Crisis was averted and Khrushchev withdrew his weapons from Cuba at the steadfast insistence of Kennedy - this was the first time Wynne has heard news of this development. Sheila tells him to remain strong as it could take another year for England to secure his release. 

Later while under further questioning by Gribanov, Penkovsky is brought into the room. It is the first time in about eight months that the pair have seen each other. Penkovsky confesses that he did hand over secret military documents to Wynne, but that Wynne had no knowledge of the contents of the packages, and that he was simply a mule. Wynne reaches across the table and grabs Penkovsky's hand and tells him that he averted the missile crisis in Cuba and that Russia withdrew, and that his sacrifices were worth it in the end. At this point Wynne is grabbed from behind and carted out of the room - this is the last time the pair ever set eyes on each other. 

A year later on 22nd April 1964 Wynne is released in a spy-swap for the Russian Konon Molody (known in the west as Gordon Arnold Lonsdale). Penkovsky is executed and buried in an unmarked grave, while his wife and daughter remain free and living in Moscow. In a pre-credits summary we are told that during their association Penkovksy exchanged over five thousand pieces of secret military intelligence with Wynne, making for a particularly fruitful relationship while it lasted. 

This film has been compared a lot to Spielberg's 'Bridge of Spies' and while this film is not in the same league as that offering I did learn something new about the unassuming English salesman who aided and abetted Oleg Penkovsky in defusing the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Cumberbatch is perfectly cast as the everyman who ultimately shows extraordinary courage in the face of extreme adversity while demonstrating strength in human decency and simply wanting to make the world a safe place. Ninidze is also well cast as is Buckley, the production values are top notch and the film moves along a goodly pace despite the lack of any car chases, explosions, gun play, fist fights or gratuitous deaths. This is simply put, a well crafted Cold War true story that ups the tension, drama, emotion, patriotism and heroics in an effective albeit understated way that only adds to the appeal ultimately. Old fashioned cinema - but there's nothing wrong in that!

'The Courier' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, out of a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-