WAR OF SUBTERFUGE
It’s the Swinging Sixties – except it isn’t all fun and games: tensions between the US, Britain and the Soviet Union are building, and the threat of nuclear war grows every day…
The threat of nuclear attack on the free world had become very real
The UK and the US had been locked in an increasingly deadly game with the USSR since the end of the Second World War. As their ideologies grew further and further apart – the USSR favouring communist rule over the democracy enjoyed in the West – open communication broke down.
The only way to find out what the other side was thinking? Subterfuge. While this was a fascinating period for the world’s spy organisations, it was possibly also one of the most dangerous, both for them and everyday people – as so grippingly illustrated in The Courier, this year’s must-see chilling spy thriller. In the absence of modern technology, often the only way to source intel was to go undercover. When behind the Iron Curtain, it was best to assume that your every move was watched and recorded, and that no one could be trusted.
For a spy, this was all in a day’s work. But for Greville Wynne, an everyday businessman, this was above the call of duty.
The period of Wynne’s recruitment by the US and
British intelligence services was also the beginning of the peak of
Cold War tensions: the Cuban
Missile Crisis. In October 1962, President Kennedy received evidence of Soviet forces setting up missiles in Cuba; the likelihood of a nuclear attack on the free world had suddenly become very real.
There was hope, though: a mole in the upper echelons of the Soviet military, Penkovsky, who had information that could put a stop to the rising tensions and, ultimately, nuclear war. But with the Soviets on high alert, sending a normal operative to meet him would be deemed too risky.
Wynne, however, travelled internationally for his day job. There was no reason to suspect him as he attended trade talks on Soviet turf.
With support from the
CIA and MI6, Wynne formed an alliance with Penkovsky and obtained the evidence needed to prevent nuclear conflict.
Both of these men risked their lives and relationships for the greater good. The Courier does honour to their memory; and with a 95 per cent rating on
Rotten Tomatoes and
4-star+ reviews across the board, it’s already proven itself a cinematic marvel, too.
Don’t miss your chance to see The Courier – only in cinemas
Friday, August 13.