The Imitation Game Review

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Charles Dance

When I walked into The Imitation Game I had very high expectations. This is a movie nominated for 8 Oscars, 5 Golden Globes, 3 Screen Actors Guild Awards, and that won the Toronto Film Festival Best Picture, which is a huge award. So I had a gut feeling this was going to be a good movie. I just hadn't imagined it would be as good as it is. The Imitation Game is an excellent film. It's powerfully acted, well-written, thematically thrilling, and just an all-around interesting movie to watch. And it's empowering as well, and gives justice to a man who's been robbed by history. Alan Turing was a British cryptographer asked to help the government with Enigma, the code all Nazis used for WWII communications. He knows he can break it, but only if he builds a machine to defeat a machine. He built the prototype for what's now known as the computer, and in doing so broke Enigma and won the war. But why does no one know his story? The answer may make you shake your head with disappointment. It might even anger some people. And some people surely won't go along with it, but go ahead and keep reading as I dive into the inner mechanics of this well-oiled machine.

The highlight of the movie is definitely Benedict Cumberbatch's performance as Alan Turing. It's amazing when you think about how far Cumberbatch has come. A couple years ago only BBC fans knew him as Sherlock Holmes on Sherlock, but he's starred in the perfect storm of movies since. Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave, August: Osage County, The Hobbit franchise, and Star Trek: Into Darkness to name a few, all leading up to this Oscar-nominated performance, which is his first nomination. Alan was always different, and he never did get along with people. This made it hard for him to work with any of his team when they had to work together to break Enigma. The biggest thing was that he was a closeted homosexual, in a time and place where it was considered "indecency" and prison was definite. So the man who broke Enigma ended up being the biggest enigma himself. The only friend he really had while working was Joan Clarke, played (amazingly) by Keira Knightley. Joan is different, like Alan. She's not gay in a society where gay isn't accepted. She's a woman in a society where women really can't do anything. Alan gives a test to the public in a local newspaper to find potential people to help, and Joan isn't even believed when she solves the test, simply because she's a woman. And in these two stories, I think acceptance becomes a big part of this movie's story.

So am I just saying this is a mushy gay rights biopic? No, because this is an empowerment movie second, and a war movie first. It's all about Alan Turing, and yes he's gay. But I like that the movie doesn't ground itself on his homosexuality.  It's a major point of the movie (so if you feel passionately against this stuff you'll likely struggle) but the main theme is his work for the war, and the code at hand. I love how they treat the code as if it's a thinking human being, freely thinking. Which is why Alan needs to build his machine to decrypt it. It's smarter than any man, except he's the first man to actually admit it, and realize only something of its kind can beat it. The movie gets its name from "The Imitation Game" which is a test he invented to discover if something is human or machine. The test gives an identity, which is something he cannot give himself. Is he a genius? Is he a war hero? Is he a criminal? Is he comfortable with his sexuality? A big theme is how Alan relates himself to the code. The real enigma isn't the code. It's the man.

I can't say enough good things about this movie. I'm currently writing a list of my favorite movies of 2014, and expect this to be pretty high. It's also one of my favorites going into Oscar season. I'm especially rooting for it for Best Original Score, which was such a standout, I may have to listen to the soundtrack on repeat for a little while. The score really blends with the movie so well. Also, the cinematography. Many will have no idea what this is, but it's how the movie looks (in a nutshell).  The film flashbacks between different timelines as well as wartime scenes of destruction, and everything looks amazing. The U-boats, the planes, the tanks all look incredible. It really sets the tone. This is a movie for people interested in war movies, espionage movies, or even empowerment. If you're a fan of great acting you're going to see two top-notch Oscar-nominated performances, both of which could easily win the award. I can't recommend this enough, so if you're not already convinced, I don't know what else to say!

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