The Courier
The spy genre always gets a bit of a boost if a film is inspired by a true story. Sure, I enjoy Bond movies and the Bourne franchise, but digging into some true-to-life intrigue, especially successfully, elevates the suspense, and gives us genuine stakes to be invested in. In “The Courier,” director Dominic Cooke has what might be one of the most tantalizing and emotional stories of spy craft, and it’s because things both worked out, and also didn’t. He does a fine job of balancing the responsibilities of the genre with those of telling the story true to life.
“The Courier” begins with a handoff. Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), a Soviet intelligence officer under Khrushchev, gives some Americans delicate information they are to hand over to someone at the US Embassy in England, where he is visiting. The year is 1960, and it is as tense a moment during the Cold War as any. Khrushchev is all bluster about the Soviet Union being as equipped for nuclear strikes as America is, but the information Penkovsky hands over says something else. British and American intelligence see promise in him as an asset, and would like to engage him further. As their go between, they turn to British salesman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch). Why a salesman? Because the Soviet Union would never suspect him. The film will progress from that point.
While espionage is the subject of “The Courier,” Tom O’Connor’s screenplay for the film centers more on the friendship that develops between Wynne and Penkovsky. One of the strongest elements of the film is the way both of these men are, in their own ways, risking their families for something they view as right, and good for the world. It is true that Penkovsky has more to lose than Wynne, but the constant trips to Russia, and the inability for him to be honest about why with his wife (Jessie Buckley), creates tension between the two that is as palpable as the prospect of Wynne and Penkovsky getting found out, and the consequences that come with that. The performances all around are solid in giving each character a voice to vent their frustrations, all while the mechanics of the spy narrative plays out as British and American agents have the bigger picture to look at, especially since the secrets Penkovsky is delivering will involve the closest the world ever got to nuclear war- the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I couldn’t help but think of Steven Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies,” which is also about an ordinary man thrust into the center of Cold War politics. The stories are very different, but the intrigue that comes through in them is fascinating to watch as history is brought to life, and two people seem to have a genuine impact on whether the world will continue to keep spinning for another day. Unfortunately, the hopes Wynne and Penkovsky had for after their mission was completed are dashed, but they have some time where they can at least know they made a difference. That’s all any of us could hope to do in such a scenario.
