In addition to watching the wretched The Creeping Flesh my sweetie-wife and I also rented The Courier a Cold War espionage thriller starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Set in the early 60s and lead up to the Cuban Missile CrisisThe Courier is based upon historical events and characters and from my Wikipedia level of research seems to have gotten the broad strokes of events correct but as always one should never attempt to learn history from cinema.

Greville Wynne (Cumberbatch) is a British businessman and salesman who frequently travels behind the Iron Curtain. When Penkovsky, a high-ranking member of the Soviet GRU (military intelligence), messages the Americans that he is willing to delivery secrets to them Wynne is recruited by MI6 and the CIA to act as a courier between the agent and the west. Wynne and Penkovsky become close friends and when their operation starts to become exposed Wynn is forced to decide what is the true nature of loyalty.

The Courier is an excellent film that keeps itself ground in the realism of the day. This is no James Bond adventure but more of a John le Carre style story though without the deep and all-encompassing cynicism Le Carre was so fond of. Directed by Dominic Cooke and written by Tim O’Connor The Courier rarely puts a foot wrong, principally keeping us in Wynne’s point of view and conveying the risks and consequences of the characters’ action. Sean Bobbit’s cinematography captures the sense of alien coldness permeating the scenes set in the Soviet Union as Wynne finds himself lost the labyrinth of modern spying.

The Courier is currently in some theaters and available for the ‘Theater at home’ rentals.