"Unlock the secret, win the war"
Directed by Morten Tyldum
Produced by Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman
Written by Graham Moore
Based on "Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance, Mark Strong
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography: Óscar Faura
Edited by William Goldenberg
Production company: Black Bear Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment, Bristol Automotive
Distributed by StudioCanal, The Weinstein Company
Release date: 14 November 2014 (United Kingdom)
Running time: 114 minutes
Country: United Kingdom, United States
Budget: $14 million
Box office: $153.9 million
"The Imitation Game" is a biographical thriller drama film directed by Morten Tyldum and based on the biography "Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges. It tells the story of the British cryptanalyst Alan Turing, who helped solve the Enigma code during the Second World War and was later prosecuted for his homosexuality.
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing
- Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke
- Matthew Goode as Hugh Alexander
- Mark Strong as Maj. Gen. Stewart Menzies
- Charles Dance as Cdr. Alastair Denniston
- Allen Leech as John Cairncross
- Matthew Beard as Peter Hilton
- Rory Kinnear as Detective Nock
- Alex Lawther as Young Turing
- Jack Bannon as Christopher Morcom
- Victoria Wicks as Dorothy Clarke
- David Charkham as William Kemp Lowther Clarke
- Tuppence Middleton as Helen
- James Northcote as Jack Good
- Steven Waddington as Supt Smith
I must admit that I haven't heard about Morten Tyldum before watching the film. He's a Norwegian film director, who educated at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and he's best known for "Headhunters" and "The Imitation Game". "The Imitation Game" absolutely amazed me: firstly, I didn't want to watch it, however, when I started I wasn't able to tear myself away. The cast, visual images, music, the plot... Everything was on a high level!
Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing reminded me of Sherlock, especially during the first dialogue. But after about an hour I understood that I had been wrong: his role of Alan Turing was more... humane. Benedict showed himself as a talented actor as always. Keira Knightley (Begin Again) performed Joan Clarke, a strong woman and a scientist. I couldn't say that I was punch-drunk but her character seemed convincing. Matthew Goode (Watchmen) caught my attention. I still don't understand why - probably the thing is charisma? Mark Strong is also one of my favourite actors (as well as Benedict Cumberbatch). It was a real pleasure to see him in the role of clever and powerful Maj. Gen. Stewart Menzies.
Advantages
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing
- Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke
- Matthew Goode as Hugh Alexander
- Mark Strong as Maj. Gen. Stewart Menzies
- The story
Disadvantages
- Not close to the truth
"Strangenesses"
- The accusation of obscenity depletes the character of great Turing
Clue Moments
- Enigma
- Burning the information
- Turing's punishment
"Now you decide am I a machine, am I a human, am I a war hero, or am I a criminal". I think, each person has their own opinion. A machine? Alan Turing invented the true instrument for doping out the code that nobody could solve. A human? In addition to his work, Turing built relationships, helped people and led a social life. A war hero? His intellect and his invention shortened the war more than two years and saved more over 14 million lives. A criminal? Maybe his decisions sacrificed many people but I consider that as an essential sacrifice.
As the film shows a period of Alan Turing's life, it's a good idea to get to know his biography. According to Wikipedia, Alan Mathison Turing was a British pioneering computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra distance runner. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.
During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he led Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including improvements to the pre-war Polish bombe method, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. Turing's pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic; it has been estimated that the work at Bletchley Park shortened the war in Europe by as many as two to four years.
After the war, he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he designed the ACE, among the first designs for a stored-program computer. In 1948 Turing joined Max Newman's Computing Laboratory at Manchester University, where he helped develop the Manchester computers and became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis, and predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, first observed in the 1960s.
Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts, when such behaviour was still criminalised in the UK. He accepted treatment with oestrogen injections (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death a suicide, but it has since been noted that the known evidence is equally consistent with accidental poisoning. In 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated". Queen Elizabeth II granted him a posthumous pardon in 2013.
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - The Imitation Game
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Enigma
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Alan
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - U-Boats
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Carrots And Peas
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Mission
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Crosswords
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Night Research
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Joan
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Alone With Numbers
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - The Machine Christopher
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Running
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - The Headmaster
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Decrypting
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - A Different Equation
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Becoming A Spy
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - The Apple
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Farewell To Christopher
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - End Of War
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Because Of You
- Alexandre Desplat feat. London Symphony Orchestra - Alan Turing's Legacy
* * *
Joan Clarke: Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.
* * *
Joan Clarke: Do you know, this morning I was on a train that went through a city that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for you. I bought a ticket from a man who would likely be dead if it wasn't for you. I read up, on my work, a whole field of scientific inquiry that only exists because of you. Now, if you wish you could have been normal... I can promise you I do not. The world is an infinitely better place precisely because you weren't.
* * *
Alan Turing: Do you know why people like violence? It is because it feels good. Humans find violence deeply satisfying. But remove the satisfaction, and the act becomes... hollow.
* * *
Alan Turing: When people talk to each other, they never say what they mean. They say something else and you're expected to just know what they mean.
* * *
Joan Clarke: Alan, what's happened?Alan Turing: We can't be engaged anymore. Your parents need to take you back. Find you a husband elsewhere.
Joan Clarke: What's wrong with you?
Alan Turing: I have something to tell you. I'm... I'm a homosexual.
Joan Clarke: Alright.
Alan Turing: No, no, men, Joan. Not women.
Joan Clarke: So what?
Alan Turing: I just told you...
Joan Clarke: So what? I had my suspicions. I always did. But we're not like other people. We love each other in our own way, and we can have the life together that we want. You won't be the perfect husband? I can promise you I harboured no intention of being the perfect wife. I'll not be fixing your lamb all day, while you come home from the office, will I? I'll work. You'll work. And we'll have each other's company. We'll have each other's minds. Sounds like a better marriage than most. Because I care for you. And you care for me. And we understand one another more than anyone else ever has.
Alan Turing: I don't.
Joan Clarke: What?
Alan Turing: Care for you. I never did. I just needed you to break Enigma. I've done that now, so you can go.
Joan Clarke: I am not going anywhere. I have spent entirely too much of my life worried about what you think of me, or what my parents think of me, or what the boys in Hut 8 or the girls in Hut 3 think, and you know I am done. This work is the most important thing I will ever do. And no one will stop me. Least of all you. You know what? They were right. Peter. Hugh. John. You really are a monster.
* * *
Joan Clarke: I know it's not ordinary. But who ever loved ordinary?
* * *
Alan Turing: I like solving problems, Commander. And Enigma is the most difficult problem in the world.Commander Denniston: Enigma isn't difficult, it's impossible. The Americans, the Russians, the French, the Germans, everyone thinks Enigma is unbreakable.
Alan Turing: Good. Let me try and we'll know for sure, won't we?
* * *
Alan Turing: Are you paying attention? Good. If you are not listening carefully, you will miss things. Important things. I will not pause, I will not repeat myself, and you will not interrupt me. You think that because you're sitting where you are, and I am sitting where I am, that you are in control of what is about to happen. You're mistaken. I am in control, because I know things that you do not know. What I will need from you now is a commitment. You will listen closely, and you will not judge me until I am finished. If you cannot commit to this, then please leave the room. But if you choose to stay, remember you chose to be here. What happens from this moment forward is not my responsibility. It's yours. Pay attention.
* * *
John Cairncross: The boys, we're going to get some lunch. Alan?Alan Turing: Yes?
John Cairncross: I said we're going to get some lunch. Alan?
Alan Turing: Yes?
John Cairncross: Can you hear me?
Alan Turing: Yes.
John Cairncross: I said we're off to get some lu-... This is starting to get a little bit repetitive.
Alan Turing: What is?
John Cairncross: I had asked, if you wanted to come have lunch with us.
Alan Turing: No, you didn't, you said you were going to get some lunch.
John Cairncross: Have I offended you in some way?
Alan Turing: Why would you think that?
John Cairncross: Would you like to come to lunch with us?
Alan Turing: What time's lunch time?
Hugh Alexander: Christ, Alan, it's a bleeding sandwich.
Alan Turing: What is?
Hugh Alexander: Lunch.
Alan Turing: Oh, I don't like sandwiches.
John Cairncross: Nevermind.
* * *
Stewart Menzies: Six minutes... is that even possible?Alan Turing: No, it takes me eight. You're finished?... Five minutes thirty four seconds.
Joan Clarke: You said to finish under six minutes.
* * *
Alan Turing: Was I God? No. Because God didn't win the war. We did.
* * *
Alan Turing: It wasn't just programmable, it was reprogrammable.
* * *
Alan Turing: Of course machines can't think as people do. A machine is different from a person. Hence, they think differently. The interesting question is, just because something, uh... thinks differently from you, does that mean it's not thinking? Well, we allow for humans to have such divergences from one another. You like strawberries, I hate ice-skating, you cry at sad films, I am allergic to pollen. What is the point of... different tastes, different... preferences, if not, to say that our brains work differently, that we think differently? And if we can say that about one another, then why can't we say the same thing for brains... built of copper and wire, steel?
* * *
Alan Turing: Now you decide am I a machine, am I a human, am I a war hero, or am I a criminal.Detective Robert Nock: I'm not the person to answer that...
* * *
His machine was never perfected, though it generated a whole field of research into what became known as "Turing Machines". Today we call them "computers".
* * *
You may see the trailer here.
Plot: 9/10
Entertainment: 8/10
Acting: 9/10
Originality: 8/10
Music and Sound: 8/10
8/10
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