संदेशवाहक

It was the early 1960s, the USA and Russia were in a race to amass nuclear weapons. It was to the point that if both of them did a maximum launch at each other it would destroy most of the world as we knew it. In truth they wanted to bury each other.

In October 1962 I was a senior in high school and that is the month of an event that came to be called the Cuban missile crisis. Russia decided to move nuclear missiles to Cuba, just a few miles off the coast of the USA. There was nothing favorable about that move. The still new US President JFK had a tough decision, how to confront Russia and get them to reverse their plans. As history witnessed Russia backed off.

That is a central theme in the story here, based on real people and real events. An English businessman was convinced to expand his business dealings to Russia, there he would befriend a Russian who would pass him photographic microfilm. He became the courier. A main topic were the plans to place the missiles in Cuba. This spy work was what tipped England and the USA off to the Russian plans and allowed them to monitor the situation which eventually resulted in the confrontation to get Russian ships to turn back.

This is a very good movie, well-acted and well-told. My wife and watched it streaming on Amazon.

Edit July 2023: Watching it again, it is such a well-made and well-acted movie you can watch it every year or two and still enjoy it as much as the first time.

A surprisingly good watch, with it being nice to see Mr Cumberbatch in a role that isn't a Marvel green screen epic.

I recommend this film.

Real life stories can be tricky. In the horror genre they can fail miserably ... in the War scenarios or spy and real people stories, it does look differently though. Like with this one. And while I reckon one could argue that side characters feel shallow or one dimensional (the wives for example), I'd argue there is not enough time to get and have everyone have their moment.

Still the British wife we have here, does have some zingers and you can really feel her pain and understand her anxiety over all that is happening. Even if she has the wrong idea of what is going on. Having said all that, the actors are fantastic and the tension is really holding up throughout ... you may know where this is going (and what happened with Cuba and the missilie crisis), but it won't take anything away from what we see on screen.

It's 1960 and the Cold War is heating up. High level Soviet official Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) is concerned. He risks everything to contact the West. CIA agent (Rachel Brosnahan) suggests using an amateur as a conduit. They recruit everyday salesman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) who has done some business behind the Iron Curtain.

This is an old fashion espionage thriller. It's heightened by its true story nature and the two lead performers. Greville's regular everyday-man character is very compelling. The two men's friendship is very interesting. It may not be something new but it is very well-done. The last part is a little flat but that has to do with its true story nature. This is a throwback in the best sense.

We need more movies like this. If you enjoy movies that teach history with good acting and are clean without all the typical Hollywood garbage then this movie is for you. Terrific movie!