It is based on a true story in the 1960s, an era filled with espionage as spies from the US and UK fought against their opposites in the Soviet Bloc. The reality of the situation back then was less James Bond and more realistic. Greville Wynne was a British businessman . From 1960 to 1962, he, as "courier" of true Russian agent Oleg Penkovsy, delivered thousands of pieces of intel out of Russia before he was captured, imprisoned, and tortured for two years by the KGB. As a result, Wynne's role as a salesman who works his magic on Eastern European clients makes him a good smuggler; as a Brit, he's assumed to be a purely capitalist creature whose only concern is money. Couple that with his excellent ability to cater to customers, and he appeared neither suspicious nor a potential danger to Soviet security.
"The Courier" makes the connection that Wynne's job of "making the clients happy" has the same qualities as being a spy: He is playing a role, one that requires him to hide his true feelings and present a specific, carefully calibrated, unflappable front. Penkovsky reassures him that he's handling the job well. As the two family men spend more time together, their guards are lowered and the two become close friends. Cumberbatch and Ninidze do a very good job of conveying their newfound bond, which helps the viewer swallow the unbelievable decision that sets the second half of the film in motion.
In short, this is a well-acted dramatization of an important but largely forgotten incident in the Cold War. Cooke and his production design team absolutely nail the era, so that's to the plus. But the story drags from time to time and there isn't a lot that most spy fans will find exciting; not a single car chase to be had.
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