The Imitation Game: Captivating tale of an unsung hero

The Imitation Game: Captivating tale of an unsung hero

FPJ BureauUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 04:38 AM IST
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Film: BFilm: The Imitation Game

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Mark Strong, Charles Dance, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Alex Lawther, Jack Bannon

Director: Morten Tyldum

Mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), the  hero of  Norwegian helmer Morten Tyldum’s engrossing debut film employs clear, sharp logic in his in his language, communications and code-breaking. He worked with M16 in World War II to develop a machine – the forerunner of the modern computer – that could decipher the Nazis’ Enigma code. Unfortunately, he is unable to apply the same in his inter-personal relations, both with women and with gays. But that, if I may say so, is what made him so very human. And weak. And sentimental.

He would name his machine Christopher after the terminally ill school friend (Jack Bannon) who killed himself. When Turing was arrested for “gross indecency” (with 19-year-old burglar Arnold Murray, not shown in the film) the clock had swung to the other end of the spectrum when gays were at the top of the heap (in ancient Greece where it was as normal a practice as male prostitution).

Using the framing device of a detective’s (Rory Kinnear) investigation of Turing, who had been burgled, Graham Moore’s screenplay based on Andrew Hodges’s book “Alan Turing: The Enigma” shows viewers in sad detail, Turing’s pitiable state after he was forced to choose between hormonal treatment  or  jail. He chose the former. The last poignant scene shows his inability to even begin a crossword puzzle with his now married, ex-fiancé and fellow cryptographer Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley).

Earlier, Turing says” “God didn’t win the war, we did.” But he who had played God in deciding who died and also decried violence would die by his own hand. A text message on the screen tells viewers he committed suicide in 1954, aged 41. Apparently, he ate a cyanide laced apple in imitation of Snow White, his favourite fairy tale. That the British government posthumously apologised to Turing in 2009 and celebrated his achievements is told to us textually. We are not told that in the 1940s and 50s, British nuclear secrets were leaked to the Russians by a ring of Cambridge educated double agents, most of whom were gay.

In telling the tale of an unsung hero, The Imitation Game calls for tolerance and acceptance and stresses the importance of perseverance and team work. Oscar Faura’s noir style camerawork is impressive, Alexander Desplat’s music is wonderful as is the cast (but Knightley should have had better makeup).

ronitatorcato@gmail.com

Ronita Torcato

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