COLD WAR SOLUTIONS

MORAL QUANDARY DEPICTED THROUGH CHARACTERS

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Western powers diffused the risk of a nuclear missile exchange by embedding spies deep inside the Soviet Union.

The Soviets reciprocated, resulting in a Cold War paranoia about who to trust and who to fear.

Benedict Cumberbatch adds to his list of credits in iconic biopic roles with his portrayal of private citizen, Greville Wynne, in The Courier (2021).

The Cold War drama follows Wynne after he is recruited to go deep undercover inside the Moscow business community at a time when the West and the Soviets were steadily building up their respective nuclear arsenals.

Merab Ninidze plays the Russian informant Oleg Perkovsky, with Rachel Brosnahan playing the CIA recruiter, Emily Donovan, and Angus Wright playing the MI6 recruiter, Dickie Franks.

Perkovsky is so inside the Moscow establishment that he gets a nod from Soviet Chairman Nikita Khrushchev during a ballet performance of Cinderella.

Director Dominic Cooke uses an extremely linear narrative as a metaphor for the couriering of top secret information back and forth between the West and the East during the political tension. Time leaps are used to advance the narrative along a linear path.

Cooke relies on realism for many scenes, using natural light on sets and all the imperfection of natural light reflected onto the scenes as the movie camera pans about with actors front of curtained windows and shaded lamps.

The 112 minute run time is mainly focused on the character study created by Cumberbatch as the actor once again masks up as a biopic figure important to world history, as the British know history to be.

Cumberbatch has also played Alan Turing in the Imitation Game (2014) and Stephen Hawking in Hawking (2004) (TV).

But the talented actor also does not mind playing other worldly heroes, such Thomas Alva Edison in The Current Wars (2017) and Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate (2013).

Cumberbatch is really approaching the height of his acting powers, making just watching his character development of historical figures a delightful film experience.

Wynne is just a successful business person making a profit in the post world war economic boom when he is approached by the intelligence community.

Wynne is so immersed in business that Donovan and Franks must move Wynne’s thinking from profit making to peace making, eventually convincing him during an impromptu lunch meeting that if nuclear war did break out, he will have just four minutes to regret not helping to prevent nuclear Armageddon.

Cooke moves the narrative forward well with an original score and music popular at the time.

Cooke then cleverly moves from the score to sound as Wynne is caught by the KGB and sent to prison. The story gets so dark that colour scenes are almost entirely transitioned into black and white.

The use of sound accentuates the dramatic turn of fate for Wynne and Perkovsky as they experience the harsh conditions of a Russian prison for spies.

Cumberbatch goes through a physical and psychological transformation to depict the deteriorating physical and mental health of Wynne during his confinement.

Cooke does well throughout the film to depict the moral quandary dominant at the time among high ranking officials on both sides of the Cold War. The camera shifts from above to below to sweeping arching pans as if to suggest that an idea must be accepted as having many sides so as to avoid a state of confusion.

The initial scenes move forward a bit too quickly though, with the director sacrificing the back story for a theatrical release run time. The audience, as a result, is expected to believe the plot based on the truth of the biographical material, as opposed to the suspension of disbelief though story and character development. 

Similarly, Cooke should have more thoroughly exploited Cumberbatch’s acting abilities during the prison scenes. Instead, much of the back story in prison is omitted to the detriment of the character development.

Overall, though, this film is a treat to watch.

The Courier is currently streaming in Canada on Apple TV.