I may only be the latest reviewer to join the
chorus of praise for The Imitation Game. Let me just add that that does not
bother me a single bit. It is a brilliant film, perhaps the best of 2014.
The film concerns Alan
Turing, widely known today as the mathematician who cracked Engima, a German
machine. By doing so, he ended the world war 2 years earlier. However, Turing
has also become famous (and the treatment of him infamous), for his personal life.
He was a homosexual, and convicted of gross indecency in 1952, with him being
given the option between a prison term, or chemical castration. He chose the
latter, and that led to his much-debated death in June 7th, 1954.
The film's writers took
artistic measures, and used their creative license effectively. The historical
accuracy of the film has been debated more than The Social Network, perhaps maybe because the real- life
protagonist was alive to debunk most of the film's points. This review will not
care about accuracy, because the story, the direction, acting and writing more
than make up for it. The film opens with a great opening monologue by Turin
(Benedict Cumberbatch), which fully captures the viewer's attention as soon as
he starts talking. It is a mastery of writing, when that same monologue comes
back in a crucial scene with an investigator. The film is intercut between scenes
at Bletchley (where Turing and his team works), his difficult childhood years
(which ended in tragic heartbreak, with the loss of his best friend), and his
current state. Turing, in his interview with the Head of Bletchley, Commander
Denniston, proves simply by talking, that he is different. It's simply the way
he has been all his life; he was bullied at school, where he only had one
friend to guide him and support him, a friend who is commonly known as his
"first love": Christopher Marcom. Turing never quite forgot that
special bond, and named his famous machine after him. When he goes to Bletchley
at the age of 27, he immediately bashes heads with his colleagues: Hugh
Alexander (Matthew Goode), John Cairncross (Allen Leech), Peter Hilton (Matthew Beard),
and especially with his authority figures Major Gneral Stewart Menzies (Mark
Strong) and Commander Denniston (Charles Dance). Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley),
Turing's co-worker and one time fiance, also helps the men crack the codes.
Alan Turing, instead of helping them, begins building a machine which he hopes
to crack Enigma's code. The code is changed at midnight, and each one has 159
quintillion possibilities. While many doubt him, (especially his heads of
authorities), Turing's faith never waivers. When his relationship blossoms with
Joan, he later finally cracks Enigma, and as later revealed, shortened the war
by 2 years, saving 14 million lives. However, he cannot hide his homosexuality
to Joan, and when he does, he insists on breaking off the engagement.
Nevertheless, the five of them continued to work until the end of the war,
after which they burned all of THE records and pieces of evidence of their
incredible accomplishments.
In
the present timeline, (and where the narrative starts from), Turing is being
investigated several years after the war for a secret. However, that directly
leads to the outing of his homosexuality. While the investigator never intended
for that to happen, fate and coincidence intervenes to royally screw Turing
over. The man, who newspapers knew as the Professor who worked in a radio
factory during the war (a rather believable cover-up story) was prosecuted for
his orientation. He chose to be castrated to continue working on his
influential machine, "Christopher", and he is visited one last time
by Joan. It was a poignant and heartbreaking scene when she finally saw what
he'd been reduced to as a result of his mistreatment. She reminds him of his
importance, that many people, cities and nations (and perhaps, whole civilizations)
would have never existed without his work. Turing is finally at peace with
himself, and committed suicide (not shown- onscreen). A better ending to the
film could never have been possible.
For
nearly half a century, generations didn't know the man who broke Enigma, the
man who invented a simpler version of the modern day computers; however, in
2013, Queen Elizabeth II finally granted him a posthumous pardon for his
appalling mistreatment. Now, we all use Turing machines, which we know by
another name: "computers."
Benedict
Cumberbatch and the rest of the cast deliver brilliant and top-notch
performances. Cumberbatch is especially great at showing the transition of the
man, and proves his acting range is extraordinary. He delivers line after line
of calculated dialogue impeccably, which alone, should win the Screenplay
Oscar. Keira Knightley, who is also Oscar-nominated with Cumberbatch, showed
incredible chemistry with him and was simply amazing. This is an influential
film, and shows exactly how to nail a biopic. This is one of the greatest films
in recent cinematic history.
Score:
5/5
