In this dramatic thriller biopic The Imitation Game examines the life of Alan Turing, an English mathematician and logician who along with his team of code-breakers, crack the German Enigma code and helped the Allies win World War II. The film examines the parallels of Turing’s personal and early life and how it shaped him to be the exceptional eccentric who became the forefather of modern computers.
In a ghostly disembodied voiceover Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch ) asks “Are you paying attention?…You will listen closely and you will not judge me…When I am finished…you are free to think whatever you like.” and we are immediately drawn into the story of The Imitation Game. The film crisscrosses various times in Turing’s life beginning with the investigation into a break-in at his home in 1951, then rewinding back a few years to his time at Bletchley Park amongst fellow code crackers and then further back again to his formative school years in the 1920’s. However it’s his time at Bletchley Park working as a top secret analyst for the British Government that the film focuses on, using the other two to almost book-end the narrative and create a frame for us to understand who Turing really was.
The screenplay by Graham Moore is an adaptation of the Andrew Hodges book Alan Turing: The Enigma and could almost pass for a biopic. Though it generally takes a more rose-coloured-glasses approach to Turing’s life and his behavior. Cumberbatch manages to make you love Turing, despite his awkwardness, abruptness or his arrogance. All of this is courtesy of Moore’s even dispersion of these traits in tolerable doses. The fact that the film also diverts to Turing’s past gives the audience a chance to see how his early years, struggling to fit in at an all-boys school shaped the man that would be a secret hero later on in life. It’s almost impossible to not make comparisons with Cumberbatch’s other aloof and dazzling (albeit fictional, as opposed to fact) character of Sherlock Holmes though, since the two seem very alike. One key thing that is brought up in the film is Turing’s homosexuality and how it not only caused him personal suffering but also resulted in it ruining his professional life once he was convicted of gross indecency. There has been some debate as to whether the film glosses over this fact about Turing’s life for the sake of palatability. Personally I feel like Moore deals with it in a very subtle and respectful manner, rather than making it scream for awareness. Another interesting aspect of Turing’s life that is raised is his relationship with Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley) the only woman allowed into the inner circle of code breakers and who had just as much smarts as Turing. Clarke is the only one that Turing bonds with and eventually as their friendship grows they realise that they need each other.
The scenes between Cumberbatch and Knightley add a refreshing and warm touch that breaks up the tension that builds as the team tries and fails and tries again to crack the Enigma code. The supporting cast in this are admirable but are almost entirely outshone by our leads. Except for Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister of Game of Thrones notoriety) who manages to rule the screen every time his character Commander Denniston comes into frame. Mark Strong, Allen Leech (the Irish one from Downton Abbey) and Matthew Goode are the only ones who seem to even make a dent or get significant dialogue out of the supporting cast. But to be honest it almost doesn’t matter nor do you really care because Cumberbatch is that engrossing and captivating that it only feels like a minor inconvenience.
There are a few of your cliché moments such air raid sirens pre bombing sequences, and scenes of people having cups of tea on mounds of rubble out the front of their house. Or that one scene where after they solve the Enigma code one of the codebreakers reveals that his brother happens to be on the next German targeted ship. This then exposes the dilemma which they face, playing God by saving some and not others. A strategic game they had to play so as not to reveal that they’d broken the code, all whilst trying to save as many lives as they could and bring an end to the war. All this does is serve to remind you that this is war and it’s an awful thing to be a part of, even if you’re not on the front.
Director Morten Tyldum manages to create a beautiful biopic about a richly complicated man, his emotional intrigues and the machine that was the end result that went on to become the computers of today. All of this is interwoven with the interspersed action of a war film and the thrill of a nail biting spy film. The world and history would be starkly different had it not been for the brilliance of Alan Turing and this does a great job of highlighting his accomplishments.
Review Score: FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Running Time: 114 minutes
The Imitation Game is out New Year’s Day 1 January 2015 through Roadshow Films
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