2014 | Dir. Morten Tyldum | 114 Minutes
"Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."
The Imitation Game tells the true story of Alan Turing, the brilliant English mathematician who was instrumental in British efforts to decipher Nazi military intelligence encoded by the German Enigma machines throughout World War II. Turing eventually created the Turing Machine, the world's first computer. The film is juxtaposes three distinct time periods of Turing's life: His unhappy childhood spent in a boarding school in 1927, his time as a code breaker in Bletchley Park from 1939 to VE Day, and the last years of his life persecuted by Britain for being homosexual.
Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of Turing as a social pariah imbued with extraordinary intellect isn't a far cry from his turn as Sherlock Holmes on the BBC's Sherlock, but he plays the role with delicate nuance and grace, and brings a striking vulnerability to the at-times larger than life character. Late in the film, after Turing began a government-mandated regimen of medication to chemically castrate him, Cumberbatch is simply heartbreaking as he demonstrates the deterioration of Turing's once-formidable mental faculties, unable to even begin to solve a crossword puzzle, intellectual diversions he once relished.
The film boasts a robust supporting cast featuring Charles Dance, Mark Strong, Matthew Goode, and Keira Knightley. Knightley in particular is most impressive as Joan Clarke, Turing's longtime friend, colleague, and trusted confidant, brilliant in her own right and personally recruited by Turing to be a codebreaker during a time when women were relegated to secretarial duties. Perhaps best known for playing plucky female heroes, Knightley delivers a strong performance, appropriately portraying Clarke as a fully-realized woman, more than just a one-dimensional supporting figure. Alex Lawther's excellent performance as Turing at age 12 is also worth mentioning, effectively carrying his third of the narrative, culminating in a powerful scene in which young Turing learns of the untimely passing of his closest friend.
Written by Graham Moore, based on the biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, the screenplay topped the 2011 Black List* and it shows. Exchanges between Turing his colleagues, particularly with Clarke, are brisk and full of wit and tact. Competently directed by Morten Tyldum, it's a tight and appropriately thrilling historical drama, with hefty dose of espionage intrigue slightly marred by just a few instances of distracting World War II stock footage and brief CGI sequences used to bridge certain sequences. The film is an effective statement on how society is often guilty of mistreating its heroes simply for straying from the norm, for being different.
*The Black List is an annual survey of the most-liked Hollywood movie scripts not yet produced.
FRAGMENTS
- Yet another good film to add to the collective of essential World War II films
- Always a pleasure to see Charles Dance and Mark Strong do their respective things. although I imagine it must be at least mildly frustrating to be the go-to "British Bad Guy" character actors
007 CONNECTIONS
- Rory Kinnear (Bill Tanner in Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time To Die)
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Benedict Cumberbatch (Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness)
