Start marking your Oscar ballot. The Imitation Game
is why I go to movies. It’s smart, brilliantly acted, well-paced, and just darn
great. Alan Turing, was a genius British logician and cryptologist. Hired on to
a team, this unique man followed his own path and created the machine that
cracked the Enigma Code – the Nazis secret communication device. Who knew that
mathematics could be exciting? Benedict Cumberbatch brings the quirks of
Turing to life. This is a man keeping secrets with no social skills whatsoever.
He is the smartest man in the room, which does not make friends.
However, Keira Knightley’s Joan recognizes the man behind
the brittle exterior. She too can solve puzzles in minutes and helps him tease
out a solution. She is willing to marry him despite his secret (he is a
homosexual back when that was against the law), and implores him to consider
that they could have an “arrangement”. They are odd ducks in the world. We go
back and forth in time – we see Turing under arrest and his tortured life. We
see Turing as a hero – however, complicated the issues. Matthew Goode, on the
team, is the popular guy who ultimately recognizes Turing’s ridiculous vision
and is a key to keeping that vision alive.
The excitement of solving the Enigma is well done. And then
the full measure of that success has issues. Yes, they helped the Allies win
the war two years earlier than projected, but lives were still lost so as not
to let the Nazis know what they knew. Alan Turing’s life story is tortured, but
this is the man who begat computers. He would be astonished at where his vision
took us. The Imitation Game is Oscar worthy and just sheer
intelligent film entertainment.
