The Courier

The Doctor’s Diagnosis: A-

              Benedict Cumberbatch takes a break from the wizarding world of Marvel and returns to The Imitation Game territory with The Courier, a true story about unsung heroes in a war effort (or Cold War effort, in this case). As both an espionage thriller and a historical drama, The Courier is a solid film that both entertains and teaches about people that have been largely been lost in historical accounts of the era.

               The film tells of events leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis and we all know the gist of the event itself. We know that the Soviets fortunately backed down, thus affording us the modern luxury of having a planet. The Courier focuses on a joint effort between the CIA and MI6 to extract crucial information from the Soviet Union that ended up playing a pivotal role in the missile crisis. A Soviet colonel (played by Merab Ninidze and codenamed Ironbark, which would have been a better title for the film) realizes that war between the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R would mean the end of civilization and manages to send a message to the west explaining that he would provide inside intelligence in exchange for defecting to the United States. Since American and British agents were closely monitored in the east, the western powers decide to send an ordinary English salesman (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) to Moscow to extract information from Ironbark.

               In terms of story, there is not much here that hasn’t been done before in spy thrillers. I’ve heard comments that the film is somewhat rote in that regard and offers nothing new to the genre. That is true, in a sense, but I would counter that the spy tropes are more effective in this film than most, carried by exceptional performances and a tone that balances dry humor with genuine menace. I would also argue that it’s unfair to criticize a true story as being cliché since, you know, this shit actually fucking happened.

               Across the board, the performances in this film are excellent. Cumberbatch not only undergoes a drastic physical change for the role (evoking thoughts of Christian Bale in The Machinist), but he creates a character that is nuanced and incredibly relatable. As an everyman, he evokes the same reaction that most of us would have: he’s fucking terrified and largely confused for the duration of the film. Compounding his stress is the strained ties with his family, as his wife (an excellent performance by Jessie Buckley) assumes that his strange behavior is indicative of an affair. This is a subplot that could have been cut, purely from a narrative standpoint, but adds a lot to the film and makes Cumberbatch’s character all the more sympathetic. The character arc of the wife is also heartbreaking, as she assumes the worst and, as an audience member, one wants to scream the truth at her before its too late. The cornerstone of the film, though, is the relationship between Cumberbatch and Ninidze (Ironbark). What begins as a simple means to an end evolves into a genuine friendship based on both comradery and mounting fear and you really start pulling for these guys. It is, of course, cliché to show how people of opposing belief systems can become friends over a united cause, but it is so well done here that I didn’t mind the cliché. And again, this actually happened.

               I feel silly putting a SPOILER ALERT for a true story, but I must do so here because I really had no idea where this was going. Yes, I know how the missile crisis ended, but I didn’t know what happened to these characters and the last act of this movie is a punch to the gut. While the first two thirds feel like something that Hitchcock would have made with Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant in the 60s, the last act takes a very dark turn as the men are discovered and imprisoned. The tonal shift is a bit shocking, as I forgot that I was watching a true story and assumed that all would turn out well. Not so. The film becomes a depressing and brutal portrayal of Soviet prisons and the politics of retrieving a political prisoner. It is not as bleak or sad as The Imitation Game, but it stands in stark contract to the North by Northwest-esque first two acts. The change, while jarring, is obviously necessary given the material and highly effective. END SPOILERS.

               While it’s not my favorite genre and I didn’t have a damn thing to joke about in this review,  The Courier is the best historical drama that I’ve seen since Darkest Hour. It is a fascinating and sad story about unheralded, normal people going to heroic lengths to avoid catastrophe. I strongly recommend it to history buffs and fans of the historical drama genre.

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