Benedict
Cumberbatch
Keira Knightley
Matthew Goode
Rory Kinnear
Allen Leech Matthew Beard Charles Dance Mark Strong
The highly anticipated Imitation Game delivers in both entertainment and educational
value. It tells the story of the
breaking of the German Enigma Code during WWII. Not only does this involve the intrigue of a spy story, it
gives an account of all the frustration and roadblocks Alan Turing (Benedict
Cumberbatch) had to endure to pull it off. Norwegian director Morten Tyldum (The Headhunters) is gifted in assimilating related sub-plots into a
beautifully crafted, reasoned whole.
Of course, in this respect the novelist Andrew Hodges and screenplay
writer Graham Moore, deserve part of the credit.
They tell the story about shy, socially awkward
Turing in Great Britain who was fascinated by puzzles, particularly crossword
puzzles, from a young age, and became expert at making and deciphering
codes. He was an odd child
(perhaps had Asperger Syndrome in the autism spectrum disorders, characterized
by difficulties in social interactions and communication, along with compulsive
interests and behaviors, but sometimes with brilliance of mind), and suffered
from teasing and discrimination all his life. To make matters worse for him, he was attracted to men. Despite these drawbacks, he was
supremely self-confident in his abilities, and never doubted his success in
creating a machine (a prototype of the computer) that would translate Enigma
into English. Also despite his
social difficulties, he managed to head up a team of scientists who ended up
being loyal to him during critical times when the English government threatened
to shut down his operation.
The group included one woman, Joan Clarke
(Keira Knightley), who got the job by working a crossword puzzle in record
time. (This was the task Turing used
to select his team.) It also
included Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode), who was in charge of the team before
Turing managed to wrest it from him by enlisting Churchill’s support, much to
the frustration of not only Alexander, but two superiors, Commander Denniston
(Charles Dance) and Stewart Menzies (Mark Strong) as well.
The threats to the operation were unbelievable,
and included Joan’s parents thinking her job was inappropriate for a woman and
calling her back home, Denniston’s lack of confidence in Turing and his
accusations of Turing being a Soviet spy, the insertion of an actual double
agent into the team, financial support, and homophobia, just to name some. While the team was ultimately
successful in breaking the Enigma code, it was at a dear cost to Turing
personally.
All in all, The
Imitation Game is an interesting, exciting, thriller with outstanding
performances from Cumberbatch, Knightley, Goode, Dance, and Strong. The music by Alexander Desplat and
cinematography by Oscar Faura give it the boost necessary for a top-notch movie,
along with Tyldum’s direction.
An interesting, exciting, thriller with
outstanding performances, music, cinematography, and direction.
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