The Imitation Game Review

Benedict Cumberbatch is starting to have too much of an effect of…well, everything these days. The man clearly defines his performances by his gravitas by not only in his use of character dramatization, but the actions and portrayals to nail as close to make his prowess a believable visual sight. This historical drama (can I just say I LOVE history?) is an enlightenment of what was going on in the United Kingdom during World War II, the war between the Nazis and Allied Powers were depleting, and the one man who despite his…ahem…shall we say “condition” managed to crack the code that saved the world and no person ever knew.

Story’s Introduction

We are introduced to Alan Turing, a young man with a disdain pleasure for being an introvert and highly motivated genius with the acquisition to match wits, make enemies, deduces clues, and believe in the greater good (Sounds like a perfect fit for the man who is Sherlock, right?). We see Turing offer up his services for one core reason: to solve the puzzle. Turing’s attitude is that of an adjusted child to which Ben invokes excellently with ticks and the awkward schoolboy pauses only seen in a posh private school setting. Something about him irked me (I swear it wasn’t the fact he was a homosexual) but I think that’s what gave the layout from Turing growing into the man he later becomes as his infatuation with his schoolboy friend/ love interest, Christopher. Alan meets a group of scholars who are just as capable of doing what Alan himself does. Although, he gets carried away and a little headstrong to maintain his goals within sight, Alan trucks on and shows signs of what his status was throughout the war as he recounts to the teenage years, his time at Bletchley Park as a codebreaker of Enigma, his issues and love affair with Joan Clarke (played by Keira Knightley), and where he would stand in history. I’ll take this moment to commentate on the subject of history…in my own words.

History has a way of never remembering heroes but only what we deem as heroism itself. The story of Alan Turing’s life was shunned for about fifty years before the truth came to light and it is believable that we tend to forget that one person can change the world, even if they are the most unlikely of heroes. With this, it’s probably why when I watched this film, the emotions I felt were strong, infuriating, boisterous sadness for the man. He was striving to live a life and find his path during a war that literally broke through the following eras.

Let me add that I know I’ve been rambling, but I just wanted to summarize how much of a big deal this film was in my eyes and how much history the world hides before we realize that there are many unspoken heroes who won’t see the light of day for decades or centuries.

Why am I watching this film?

Two core reasons were explained throughout the story’s introduction that I merely summed up into a reaction that could generate my view on the world: history and facts. For a guy who’s not known for using his left side of his brain too often, I recognized the historical value of this film (The Queen herself pardoned Turing post-mortem of his gross indecency crimes the previous year) and an article I read opened my eyes to the world as a reminder: we, the human race, are cruel. I state this for a soul who has passed long ago over his “crimes” and suffered a chemical castration for saving us. I mean, for God’s sake, he was one of the first spies in MI6! He did all this work and came out a leader while giving mankind a gift: Computers. Furthermore, I will stress that director Morten Tyldum’s capturing of the novel, Alan Turing: The Enigma isn’t irregular but doesn’t mean everything was accurate. One aspect is the relationship between Joan Clarke and Alan Turing. Keira Knightley’s portrayal was pretty dull, to be honest, and didn’t sit well with me as I watched the film. For a guy who usually loves Knightley’s performances (Pirates of the Caribbean, Domino, Pride & Prejudice, Anna Karenina), this had a stale effect from her. When I say stale, I mean “Woman, what the hell are you so touchy-feely for? Just let Benedict do his thing so we can stay on the focal point of the story, PLEASE!”

On the other hand, it was fun to see the interaction of Clarke and Turing who were known to be best friends (depending on historical accuracy or factual, we might never really know) and their dialogue back and forth. I’m still a fan of the scene actually when Turing proposes to her out of sheer will of the fact she stated she was to go home because her parents told her so (Another Sherlock reference again for those fans if you know what I’m talking about).

Does the music keep up with the film?

Alexandre Desplat, French composer, is a man I gladly wouldn’t mind shaking hands with at all and begging for a film score. His previous works are virtually movies I admire to the core of my pinky toe  (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Pt. 1-2, The Golden Compass, Moonrise Kingdom, The Queen, Godzilla) and would gladly listen to the soundtrack only because of the orchestration throughout The Imitation Game without fault. I think there could have been more said but if you want to blend yourself in with emotional strings of this magnitude then I suggest this musical composer to be on your wish list.

WTAF moments

In truth, there wasn’t really one for a movie of documented history. I guess you can say anything Turing did while he was alive was pretty comical in itself as he was a man people wanted to “punch in the face” (Sherlock references galore in this film with the exception of him being slightly MORE childish [laughs])  and a sudden urge of credible identification to what you can make of Turing’s actions throughout the war, to which I believe, was right.

Final words

Alan Turing is basically the father of computers and the reason why codebreaking, to this day, has now become highly revered in the world of technological advancement/warfare. Turing’s accommodations should surely be remembered for what it provided us: Hope. The film takes also the turn in asking us, the audience, and the question to what Alan Turing was: a monster, a hero, a lover, a traitor, a villain, a mathematician, or simply just a genius? Food for thought, ladies and gentleman, food for thought.