COURTESY: MOVIEPOSTERDB.COM
Rating: A
Under director Morten Tyldum’s guidance, “The Imitation Game” is among the best of the biopics released in 2014. Based on the life of British hero and cryptanalyst Alan Turing, who famously cracked Nazi Germany’s Enigma machine and cipher code during World War II, “The Imitation Game” approaches his story in a calculating method that results in an impactful, streamlined narrative.
“The Imitation Game” recreates the character on which it focuses both creatively and technically. Channeling the methodological energy of Turing himself, the film focuses on three major periods in his life – extracting the most pertinent details of each timeframe in such a precise way that a summary of Turing’s complexity develops, transforming him from a daunting enigma into someone painfully affecting and tragic. In a way, those involved – specifically director Morten Tyldum, writer Graham Moore and actor Benedict Cumberbatch – collectively crack the code that is Alan Turing.
British import Cumberbatch proves himself a true talent to audiences on this side of the pond. Cumberbatch brilliantly and deftly exploits Turing’s dual nature; both Turing’s loner, rigid outward appearance and sensitive, misunderstood inner qualities are child’s play in Cumberbatch’s able hands.
At times, Cumberbatch is almost inhuman, a living machine with a single purpose – to decipher the Nazi German code. His robotic determination and aloof persona – symptoms of his extreme intellect – render him almost unapproachable to those around him. But, as the events unfold across the two timelines of Turing’s adult life, Cumberbatch slowly sheds Turing’s mechanical outer shell, revealing the complex, tender, emotional circuits hidden beneath.
Assisting the war effort and arriving to Bletchley Park in 1939, Turing joins and further assembles a team of cryptanalysts tasked with cracking the Nazi code, a team that includes Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode) and Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley) under Commander Alastair Denniston (Charles Dance). It is here where we witness Turing’s relentlessness and self-prescribed isolation, and it is also here where we watch as both qualities are challenged and subsequently evolve, especially as he grows close to Clarke and learns to work with the others toward their shared goal.
While the entire supporting cast performs top-notch – including Mark Strong as Major General Stewart Menzies, Allen Leech as John Cairncross and Rory Kinnear as Detective Nock – the most refreshing turn comes from Knightley as Clarke. Signature pout aside, Knightley carefully brings the headstrong character of Joan Clarke to life – highlighting the complex nature of the relationship between her and Turing. Their dynamic is pivotal in revealing a caring, delicate side of Turing otherwise unseen, save in flashbacks from his adolescence.
As Turing recounts his life to Detective Nock (Kinnear) in 1951, the plot thread involving his time at a boarding school in 1927 (relative newcomer Alex Lawther plays a young Turing dutifully) serves to further illustrate Turing’s emotional development and homosexuality.
The manner in which director Tyldum, writer Moore and actor Cumberbatch tenderly treat this subject is a triumph for the LGBTQ community and one of the most laudable elements of the film. By honestly and heartbreakingly depicting Turing’s cruel punishment under anti-gay laws, the film serves dually as a message for tolerance and as a warning against discrimination.
Rather than being treated as a national hero for the work that resulted in shortening World War II by an estimated two years, Alan Turing was treated as a criminal because of his sexuality. This film works to bring his tragic life to light – and the lives of 49,000 other men similarly effected – in the hopes that no one will be subjected to lawful-but-unfair treatment like this again.
Adapted from Andrew Hodges’s “Alan Turing: The Enigma,” Graham Moore’s screenplay is complex, with every line and discourse functioning to paint as richly colored a portrait of Alan Turing as possible. Set to the alternately haunting and urgent score composed by Alexandre Desplat, the film ultimately becomes a well-oiled machine purposed with the sole task of decrypting Turing’s life.
“The Imitation Game” received eight nominations – including Best Picture, Best Director (Tyldum), Best Actor (Cumberbatch) and Best Supporting Actress (Knightley) – at the upcoming 87th Academy Awards, the third highest number of nominations among all films honored this year. As one of the best films of 2014, director Morten Tyldum and actor Benedict Cumberbatch have been put on the map stateside, and Keira Knightley has been given a well-deserved and major boost in her career.
However, most importantly, “The Imitation Game” beautifully fulfills its purpose in sharing an unsung hero’s story with the world.
