The Courier 

Released in theaters Mar. 19, 2021

Directed by Dominic Cooke

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, and Rachel Brosnahan

Available on various streaming services, including Amazon Prime

I’m getting into Cold War books and stories lately. Why now? Perhaps because we’ve all come to realize that the Cold War did not end in Dec. 1991, as advertised. No. It is very much going on today. And the potential consequences are as grave today as they were in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Courier is a movie based, mostly, on actual events. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Greville Wynne, a British businessman that was recruited by British and US intelligence services to help them spy on the Russians. His job was to courier messages to and from Oleg Penkovsky, a Russian official. (Penkovsky was hoping that by giving secrets to the West, he could avert the nuclear war that seemed to be imminent.)

The Courier is not a great movie, but it is a good one that does a good job of conveying – in the direction, the lighting, the costuming, and the sound – the anxious, noirish, almost theatrical mood of the world back then on the eve of destruction.

Interesting: Fact and Fiction 

Although the major events of the movie are factual, there are a number of elements that were fabricated. Not by the screenwriter, interestingly, but by the source of the plot: Wynne himself. Apparently, after he was returned to England on a prisoner exchange, he had trouble finding good work to support his family. So, he became, as one critic put it, a “rent-a-spokesperson for all kinds of espionage stuff.” He made appearances in the media about anything related to spy craft. Even on subjects he knew little about. “[Wynne], bless him, for all his wonderful work, was a menace and a fabricator,” said Nigel West, an expert on British and American intelligence organizations. “He just couldn’t tell the truth!”

Critical Reception 

* “Benedict Cumberbatch delivers a masterclass in ‘acting in a vacuum’ with this disappointing historical spy drama that fails on almost every level except for the dazzling performance of its leading man.” (Kevin Maher, Times/UK)

* “Masterful in every detail… completely compelling and one of the best films of 2021.” (Michael Medved)

* “Combine impressive production values and a ratcheting up of suspense, and you’re in for a solid genre entry. Don’t expect more than that.” (Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News)

* “If there’s such a thing as a Cold War Comfort Movie and let’s say there is, The Courier fits the bill perfectly, ticking off many of the familiar boxes of the genre.” (Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times)

You can watch the trailer here.