The Imitation Game Review

“Sometimes it is the people whom no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.” -The Imitation Game

THE IMITATION GAME is a film set during the second World War when Britain was loosing to Germany. It starts with strong characters and a humorous atmosphere but then ends with a heartbreaking truth. Alan Turing was an ingenious mathematician and cryptanalyst.  He had an extraordinarily brilliant brain and was incredible at crosswords. He was credited with cracking the unbreakable codes of Germany's World War II Enigma machine. Turing was a 'heroic outsider' who thought himself to be superior to most others. At one point in the film, he writes a letter to Churchill asking if he can have the £100,000 funding he needs for his machine. Turing's visionary but enigmatic behaviour helped save the lives of millions of people and shortened the war by two years.

I didn't know what to expect from this film; I wasn't certain that it was going to concentrate on just machines and science or if it was going to be a biopic. I was pleasantly surprised; the film had an equal share of drama and fact. Benedict Cumberbatch is entirely believable and portrays Alan Turing as unique, eccentric and poignant. Much like in Sherlock, Cumberbatch brings cheeky humour to the role. Again, he plays a logical man who doesn't understand jokes and sarcasm and finds normal human interaction very mysterious and challenging. The film also shows how people that were not fighting were living. Keira Knightly plays a fearsomely intelligent woman who is very audacious and spontaneous who penetrates a man's world. You are first introduced to her when she arrives late to an interview and shows nothing but 'sass' when she is discriminated against because she is a woman. This is very relevant to today with the issue of gender inequality.

I was more moved by this film than any other I have watched this year. I was in tears at the end because of the prejudice and injustice Turing encountered after the war and the absolute misery he found. He invented something extraordinary (the precursor of the modern computer) and was a true visionary and yet his achievements and life were kept secret for years and it was only last year that the Queen pardoned him and gave him his due place in history. Alan Turing was an inspiring man who was viewed as extremely stubborn because he believed in his own ideas. During his life time, he was never given the recognition or commendation he deserved. And because of the prejudices and intolerances of the time he lived in, he had a terrible end.

4 and a half out of 5