The Imitation Game (2014)

Director: Morten Tyldum

Screenplay: Graham Moore (based on the book by Andrew Hodges)

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong

Music: Alexandre Desplat

Time: 114 minutes

Bottom-line: A spellbinding film, with Cumberbatch at his very best

There have lived many scientists, mathematicians and inventors whose works have often gone unnoticed. Some of them have been honoured posthumously, and who knows – maybe several works of other famous scientists are yet to be discovered. One of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, whose work during the Second World War went unnoticed for decades, was mathematician and cryptanalyst, Alan Turing. The Imitation Game is a biopic on this genius, and the film focuses particularly on his efforts during WWII. The film is nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. 

Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Alan Turing

Behind every code, there is an enigma. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing. The story contains several timelines, from 1928 to 1953, that is, from Turing’s school days till the year before his death. During World War II, the Nazis used an Enigma code to send messages. It was, at that time, the most difficult code to break. Turing approaches Commander Denniston, requesting an opportunity to try his hand at deciphering the code. Turing doesn’t get along with the other scholars and cryptographers who are already employed, and begins working on a machine by himself. He employs Joan Clarke (Knightley) who is also a cryptanalyst. Soon it becomes clear that only a machine, and not man, can crack the code, and that Turing cannot do it alone. How the group of code-breakers at Bletchley Park try and crack the Nazi code is what the film is about. 

The father of computer
science: Alan Turing

I think it has become quite evident from the nine episodes of Sherlock that Benedict Cumberbatch has a knack of portraying characters who are “smarter than the rest”. Here too, he may not exactly resemble Turing in looks, but his acting is impeccable. The way he delivers his dialogues (with that constant stammer too), his body language and facial expressions are perfect. Cumberbatch has a good chance of bagging the Oscar this year. Keira Knightley supports Cumberbatch with a superb performance as Joan Clarke. I liked the way the contrast is shown between Turing and Clarke – the former, eccentric, completely serious and indulged in work, while the latter is equally smart but more jovial. In both the film and in real life, the relationship between Clarke and Turing was short-lived. Knightley is nominated for the Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category. The other actors portraying the code-breakers, including Matthew Goode, Alan Leech, and Matthew Beard have done well.  

Joan Clarke (left), played by Keira
Knightley (right)

In terms of accuracy, I feel that The Imitation Game is okay, and does justice to Alan Turing, though there are several instances of historical inaccuracy. The period settings and costumes seemed pretty accurate to me. The pace of the story is well-set, and I feel that whatever should have been conveyed in the 114 minutes has been conveyed. Now, Turing is an interesting man to make a biopic about because there are many things people do not know about him, and the film attempted to throw light on that aspect. But there is the sensitive issue about Turing being a homosexual. Nevertheless, Tyldum and Moore have done well to portray the incidents that are not too “insulting” or such. Few instances have been modified to give dramatic effect, but nothing else. For example, the machine here is named Christopher (after Turing’s childhood friend), whereas in reality it was known as the Bombe. Unlike the way Turing is portrayed in the film, sources say that in real life he had several friends, and a good sense of humour too. 

A quote I found interesting

The epilogue tells us that Turing committed suicide on June 7th 1954, aged 41, but the cause of his death is still a debate. The epilogue also tells that in 2013, Queen Elizabeth II granted him a royal pardon, and honoured his achievements. The sad part is that while Turing homosexuality became a public issue, the fact that his machine shortened the war by nearly two years – thereby saving thousands of lives – remained secret for over fifty years. The last two lines pretty much summarise the genius in Turing: Turing’s work inspired generations of research into what scientists called “Turing Machines”. Today, we call them computers. 

With Cumberbatch and Knightley putting their best efforts into acting, The Imitation Game stands a good chance of winning many awards this year. The script is excellent, and the film is a delight to watch. As one of the taglines of the film says: It took a man with secrets, to break the biggest one: Turing may not have been the perfect man, but I believe that, as I type this on my desktop, all of us should know the true brilliance of Alan Turing, the father of the modern computer. A nice, clean biopic, The Imitation Game is a film that you should not miss.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 90%