The Imitation Game (2014)

Director: Mortem Tyldum

Did you know that the course of our lives was pretty much shaped by one man during the WWII? Yes, don't be surprised, nowadays we can barely imagine ourselves without computers, and the man, the brilliant mathematician whose name was Alan Turing not only was one of the if not the most important figure behind Britain's victory in the war, but he was also the pioneer in computer science.

"The Imitation Game" is a war-time drama that focuses on the little-discussed part of the WWII, namely, the solving of the Nazi Enigma code. As it turns out, the real battles were won at Bletchley Park, but not on the front, since with the help of few bright minds, the war was shortened by two or even four years and its outcome might have been completely different as well. It had not been more than a couple of days after Britain had declared war on Germany than the government formed a cryptography team lead by Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to solve the Enigma and outsmart the rival as soon as possible.

Though Alan Turing  was conceited and intolerant towards his teammates at times, he believed that a more powerful and efficient machine than human mind can be built and the impossible-to-crack Enigma code could be cracked after all. If not his obstinacy, assiduity, and maybe Joan Clarke's (another member of the team who was chosen by Alan himself) astonishing intelligence (because women were not supposed to be scientists that time) and encouragement, Alan's work would have been terminated very soon and the cryptography team might have kept to the same old, time-consuming, and basically useless methods that didn't gave any results a year ago and wouldn't help further either. But we all now that sometimes the craziest ideas are the best ones and the weird people might turn out geniuses at the end. That's what happened to Alan. He proved all the critics wrong building a machine that would decipher Enigma and ultimately became the prototype for modern computers.


The film is set in three time periods - Alan's school years, WWII and 1950s - which are shown independently, but the story is twofold - it emphasizes not so much the process of building the Engima-solving machine and the inhumanities done during the war (which is very good; we have "The Pianist", Schindler's List and "The Book Thief" for those things)  as Alan's inner struggles for he was homosexual during the time any signs of shift from what was considered normal were viewed as a very serious crime. Moreover, despite his great achievements, Alan was never given enough credit; instead, he was tormented and led to a miserable life.

Overall, I must say that "The Imitation Game" is a captivating drama that evokes different emotions - from fear, anxiety to joy, sadness and also compassion. Not knowing the features of the portrayed personalities, I can't judge whether the selected actors suited the roles, nor can I talk about the historical accuracy, but there's one thing I am sure of - none of the cast left me wondering about their genuineness, it seemed like everyone is in their places, especially Benedict who's able to transform into any character necessary and leave you breathless by his amazing acting. Without doubt, "The Imitation Game" belongs to the best wartime films. Even though it sometimes seems annoying that the director suddenly jumps from one time period to another one, it is indispensable to tell the story completely. Also, don't worry it's not one of those emotionally heavy stories that are so WWII-specific (then again, what else can you expect? It wasn't the most joyful time of the history), but rather a biographical thriller that however will let you sleep at night. The relatively little know Norwegian director Mortem Tyldum had done a great job, and I'm certain we will definitely hear about him again soon.