THE COURIER

 Hello all. Long time no see. Apologies for making it seem like I was wiped of the face of my blog. But I am back now. And after a long time of contemplation, I realized that I enjoyed writing reviews and would like to do it more often. Therefore, I am back with another review of a movie - 

' The Courier ' 

Released in February 2021 at the Sundance Film Festival, The Courier is a historical spy thriller based on real events. I have to admit, being a fan of espionage, I was thoroughly impressed with this work. The movie also received largely positive reviews.

Set during the period of the Cold war, the story follows the experience of Greville Wynne [played brilliantly by Benedict Cumberbatch], a British businessman who gets recruited by the Special Services of MI6 to infiltrate the Soviet nuclear program. He teams up with the soviet source Oleg Penkovsky [Merab Ninidze] and pretending to be business partners, smuggle intelligence of Soviet missiles being transferred to Cuba. 

The attire adorned by a British businessman in pleasing his clients, along with indulging in heavy Russian drinking provides a nonchalant, doubt depriving outlook to Wynne, easing the task of smuggling intel. Hence his selection for the task. But being a family man, Wynne denies the offer initially due to the imposed risks. Penkovsky on the other hand is a much experienced spy who in hind sight is well aware of the consequences and is prepared for it.

 Their bond grows beyond work and become good friends, which partly paves way for the decisions of the second half, where Wynne after being pulled out, volunteers to go back in to save Penkovsky, ending up in their capture. The movie keeps you with it all along till they cut to the torture scenes of our protagonist. Here the steam is lost a bit. 

Penkovsky takes the blame and assures the authority that Wynne only carried Couriers and had no idea what was in them, proving his claim of doing nothing wrong. But Wynne makes sure that his friend knew that their sacrifice bore fruit during an encounter in prison, as he gets to know from his wife visiting him, that the missile mission was pulled off.

Penkovsky is executed and buried in an unmarked grave while Wynne is released in prisoner exchange for a Russian spy Konan Molody.

Cumberbatch, as always gives a stellar performance and manages to amazingly capture Wynne's personality. The clip of the real Greville Wynne during the post credit scenes is a testimony to his performance. Ninidze pulls of a splendid Russian spy and captures the sympathy of the audience with his powerful performance. Another well portrayed character is Sheila Wynne, Greville's wife, played by Jessie Buckley. 

As Wynne starts behaving unusually and is rarely around the house, his unexpected Russian visits spark infidelity doubts in her mind. Buckley brings out the emotional wallop of doubting her husband and the guilt of realizing her mistake on knowing the truth exceptionally.

The one character that seemed out of place was that of the CIA agent Emily Donovan played by Rachel Brosnahan as it felt like an American was aimlessly thrust amidst a very British tale. And she also doesn't do as much justice to the character as expected.

I cannot depart without crediting the writer Tom O’Connor and the director Dominic Cooke for giving life to such a brilliant story. But the real praise worthy work is the cinematography by Sean Bobbitt and Music score by Abel Korzeniowski, giving a grim atmosphere in perfectly capturing the era.

In totality, The Courier is worth the watch and deserves all the accolades given to it.  If you have seen this movie or plan on doing so, let me know.

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Hope you all stay safe, healthy and happy. Until the next time.

CIAO.