Went to see this film for my birthday yesterday at the Showcase Cinema in Leeds which is part biography, thriller and drama.
IMDB says: English mathematician and logician, Alan Turing, helps crack the Enigma code during World War II.
In this fascinating Morten Tyldum (Headhunters, Buddy) directed film, from the screenplay by Graham Moore (The Waiting Room, Pirates Vs Ninjas) adapted from the book written by
Andrew Hodges and based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness) stars as Turing, who must help break the code along with his fellow code-breakers at Bletchley Park, Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School.
His prickly personality causes friction from the outset, but his genius invention, nicknamed Christopher after his childhood friend, is the first machine to think for itself, in essence, the first computer.
The rest of his team include Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Stoker) as Hugh Alexander, Allen Leech (Downton Abbey, Man About Dog) as John Cairncross, Matthew Beard (An Education, One Day) as Peter Hilton, James Northcote (Anna Karenina, Wuthering Heights) as Jack Goode and Keira Knightley (Love Actually, Never Let Me Go) is Joan Clarke, the only woman secretly on his team, who has to battle the sexist attitudes of the time in order to play a vital part in the breaking of the code. Leading the team are Mark Strong (Before I Go To Sleep, Stardust) as Stewart Menzies and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, Gosford Park) provides an excellent turn as high-ranking bully Commander Denniston who is desperate to get rid of Turing by any means possible. As if this isn't problem enough, there is a spy in their midst and although Turing discovers who it is, unfortunately he knows secrets of his own about Turing that could bring about more than just the sack.
There is a wonderful juxtaposition of time periods to the film, showing Turing as a child at boarding school, during the War and in the time following the burglary of his home when Detective Robert Knock (Rory Kinnear, Skyfall, Quantum of Solace) decides that there is more to his story than Turing insisting that nothing has been taken from his property and this section of the movie provides some of the most shocking truths.
A fantastic film in terms both acting and plot, a complex mix of history interwoven with mystery and an eye-opener to the travesties that went on in that era.
'Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.' 8/10
#TheImitationGame #BenedictCumberbatch #KeiraKnightley
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