THE COURIER is a top-notch spy thriller that pivots on the friendship that develops between a Russian mole and his British “courier.” More true-to-life than many other spy films with their glamour and action sequences, this picture is carried by strong acting performances, in particular by Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role and Merab Ninidze as Oleg Penkovsky.

There is an initial title card that indicates that the movie is based on true events. That may be so, but I for one had never heard of Greville Wynne. The film ends with a clip of the real Wynne as an acknowledgement of his bravery.

I had, however, heard of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, since I was five years old when that was going on. Wynne and Penkovsky played important, if unheralded, roles in that affair.

The story begins with Nikita Khrushchev giving a speech to the party faithful. The implication is that he is a dangerous man. Oleg Penkovsky is among those in attendance. He is a war hero but is becoming disillusioned with the Soviet way of life.

He gives an envelope to two American students in the subway system in Moscow. One of them goes to the U.S. Embassy with the document.

In London a meeting is taking place where two key operatives are meeting with the head of MI6. Dickie Franks (Angus Wright) and Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan) believe that Penkovsky’s knowledge of intimate Russian military plans will bear fruit if they can get them out of the U.S.S.R. Emily is with the CIA, which at this time does not have a robust network of operatives in the U.S.S.R.

We switch to Wynne (Cumberbatch) on the golf course with some clients. He is a salesman who has facilitated business deals for the English with Eastern European countries since the 1950’s. He deliberately misses an easy putt as part of his come-on routine to his customers.

Next we meet Wynne’s wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley) and his son Andrew (Keir Hills) at their flat. The couple’s relationship survived a previous strain caused by Greville’s infidelity.

Since Penkovsky’s official duties involve trade, a scheme is hatched to use Greville Wynne’s sales activities in Communist Eastern Europe as a pretext to get him into Moscow. Wynne is initially reluctant but ultimately agrees after he is told that all he will be doing is carrying documents.

Of course he cannot tell his wife what is really going on. Eventually this will lead her to suspect that he is having another affair and their marriage begins to crumble.

We see many scenes of Wynne and Penkovsky in Russia. The Soviet even makes a trip with a trade delegation to London. Wynne meets Penkovsky’s family in Moscow. There also are scenes of Wynne meeting with his handlers.

As time goes by, a Russian mole in MI6 gets wind of the information coming out of the Soviet Union and reports this to his masters. Penkovsky wants to get himself and his family out of the country.

Wynne’s handlers tell him that the operation is a bust. Yet Wynne insists on going back one last time because of his friendship with Oleg. Will they succeed in getting Penkovsky out? Will Wynne be captured?

The difficulty with fictional historical pictures is how much adherence should the filmmakers take with the facts? The movie version can unsettlingly become the “real” version to viewers not willing to do further research. Taking this kind of picture with a grain of salt is always advisable and should be used as a stepping-stone to more critical analysis if interest is there for the moviegoer.

THE COURIER takes what I felt was an unusual tone with the events it covers. The Cuban Missile Crisis, a major international event, is downplayed in favor of the Wynne-Penkovsky story. Several of the documents passed along by the Soviet related to the arms buildup in Cuba and the Crisis occurs during the course of the picture.

Yet there is no sense of the fear and dread, at least in the United States, that this generated. I would assume that the U.K., even closer than the U.S. to Soviet nuclear destruction, was probably similarly affected. This lack of emphasis seems to lessen the achievements of the two main protagonists.

Khrushchev does mention at one point that the U.S. has nuclear missiles in Turkey, right on Russia’s border. So isn’t having missiles in Cuba comparable to that? Frankly, I had never considered that angle before.

I appreciated the real-life approach of the screenwriter to spy work. Not all of it is like it is for James Bond. There are some action scenes as they try to smuggle out Penkovsky but those are realistic and appropriate.

The movie is long at almost two hours. Some of the later scenes could have been edited down or omitted. By this time in the film, however, we already are engaged in the fate of the two leads so that counterbalances the slower pace.

Cumberbatch and Ninidze are stellar as Wynne and Penkovsky. There is much subtlety in their emotional displays. The fact that Cumberbatch is almost a dead ringer for the real Wynne is startling.

The other actors are rarely in the spotlight but do yeoman’s work. Jessie Buckley notably shines as the long-suffering wife of Wynne and adds credibility to the relationship. Prague is mentioned as a location and I assume that it substituted for Moscow. The period details are well done whether in production design or costumes.

I would recommend this film to anyone who appreciates espionage stories, especially those based on real life. There is some violence but no gratuitous gore. Younger audiences would likely be bored.

This is a story that deserved to be told, and to have actors of the caliber of Cumberbatch and Ninidze in the lead roles adds to its believability.

Four out of five stars

THE COURIER is a true-life spy thriller, the story of an unassuming British businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) recruited into one of the greatest international conflicts in history. At the behest of the UK’s MI-6 and a CIA operative (Rachel Brosnahan), he forms a covert, dangerous partnership with Soviet officer Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) in an effort to provide crucial intelligence needed to prevent a nuclear confrontation and defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan, Jessie Buckley
Directed by Dominic Cooke
Written by Tom O’Connor