By Jordan Heim—During the winter of 1952, British authorities entered the home of mathematician, cryptanalyst, and war hero, Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to investigate a reported burglary. They instead ended up arresting Turing himself on charges of ‘gross indecency’, an accusation that would lead to his devastating conviction for the criminal offense of homosexuality – little did officials know, they were actually incriminating the pioneer of modern-day computing. Famously leading a motley group of scholars, linguists, chess champions, and intelligence officers, he was credited with cracking the so-called unbreakable codes of Germany’s World War II Enigma machine. [The Weinstein Company]
The prodigy, Alan Turing, portrayed by the brilliant Benedict Cumberbatch certified this movie for me to be one I would consider a must-see for all. It has been a long time where I have seen a movie that has captivated me the way ‘The Imitation Game’ did.
Cumberbatch embodies the persona of Turing in all aspects. Turing is a complex, socially awkward, brilliant and at times difficult man to be around. I am probably bias because of my love of his BBC television show Sherlock. His performance was enhanced even farther with the exceptional cast, including Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke. Clarke was the only woman who was regarded as smart enough to be with Turing’s team. I felt her performance was excellent.
The movie is broken into three separate time periods. The first period is of Turing as a lonely child at boarding school, followed by the wartime period, and finally the time in the 50’s when Turing was arrested and subsequently ended his own life. I found this decision to break the film into these time frames very effective. It allowed the audience to go into the different sides of Turing’s life.
The excellence of ‘The Imitation Game’ can clearly be seen with its eight Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe Awards nominations, and three Screen Actor Guild Awards nominations. Additionally, nine nominations were received by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
The Weinstein Co. presents a film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore. Running time: 114 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for some sexual references, mature thematic material, and historical smoking).
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