The Imitation Game

Strong. Fast. Funny. Intelligent. Important. This film has the potential to shock, inspire and re-think both military and societal warfare at once, all the while delivering in true British form, a cracking good yarn. From the opening frame, the voice of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) warns you to pay attention or leave. Though he’s speaking to his interrogator in film reality, the effect of the voice over is to make us lean in. Turing is a mathematical genius and a social idiot. The brilliant individual/oddball against the societal machine/norms is not a new story, but this version of that familiar tale is structured, acted and shot extremely well – and that’s just for starters.

Alan Turing is considered by some to be a, if not the, Godfather of computing. While that title rankles some because of the many contributors along the way that made computers what they are today, no one can deny his importance in code breaking, particularly the previously thought unbreakable codes of the Nazis during World War II. Comparing “The Imitation Game” to another, more typical, front line, soldier-based, on-the-ground depiction of WWII, like “Saving Private Ryan”, for instance, is to see a completely different version of the war and how it was fought. Modern warfare, and the birth of the use of computing technology are on display here with Germany’s Enigma coding machines. By encrypting messages, they felt confident they could transmit vital strategic information with no risk of being understood, cracked or, in more modern terms, hacked. The basic assumption by the British military powers that be that a code breaker must speak German are put on display as wrong from the beginning. As with so many fundamental missteps, the entirety of what could be understood was being missed because the problem was being thought about by too narrow a definition. “Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine,” Joan Clarke (keira Knightley) says delivering a line that walks the delicate path of being spot on, but not clunky. 

One of the brilliant components of the script lies in the layering of deception. The twists are naturally built in as various characters hold cards we, the audience never knew they held, yet kick ourselves for not seeing them when they are revealed. Turing has the secret of homosexuality, a shockingly brutal punishable offense in England at the time. Sir Stewart Menzies (played exceptionally by Mark Strong) is Chief of MI6 and looms over all processes the code breakers engage in. There appears to be a Russian spy in the house – but no one seems to know who it is. Commander Denniston (Charles Dance) represents the old guard – the front line barking authoritarian who has no time for Turing’s quirks despite his intelligence – until Turing drops a bit of inside information he has, quickly earning his place amongst the code breakers.   

Clarke is another supporting and yet very well-rounded character. He struggles as a woman in a traditional society that doesn’t embrace her intelligence over it’s need for her to be seen as a proper woman are heart breaking. She adds value in so many ways that might otherwise be overlooked were she not to be given a chance by Turing, who nearly suffered a similar fate. Though his protective actions were more selfish than noble, she accepts them graciously and maximizes her opportunity. Where she goes on this journey and her fight to be taken seriously as well as loved are played to perfection by Knightley.

The Imitation game is deservedly part of a crowded list of films nominated for Best Picture. The final takeaway from the film, which I won’t reveal here, is a gut punch that left me reeling. It’s a great reminder of the need for acceptance, communication and consideration of those who do the things that no one else can imagine.  

Resonance Rating: 4.5 out of 5