Review of The Imitation Game (2014) by Dave M — 10 Aug 2015

"Sometimes it's the very people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine." This quote from "The Imitation Game" (PG-13, 1:54) sums up, at least in part, what's so enthralling about the film's story. Based on true events, the film is about service and sacrifice, love and loss, and several different kinds of intelligence. Even the title has multiple meanings in the context of this complex, but easy to understand story. To watch this movie is much like peeling back the layers of an onion - each layer more intriguing than the last and with the definite possibility that you'll shed a tear in the process. But what's nearly certain is that, in the end, you'll be both uplifted and thrilled in a way that you may not think possible just based on the movie's relatively ordinary-sounding premise.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, leader of the British team who broke Nazi Germany's supposedly unbreakable Enigma code and, in the process, invented the world's first digital computer. Turing leads the team, which includes mathematicians, cryptographers and a chess champion, but even in such heady company, he is the brains of the operation, the driving force which will help end World War 2 earlier that it would have otherwise ended (saving innumerable lives in the process) and lead the world into the computer age. Ironically, Turing isn't much of a team player. He has always been "different" and lacks social skills - and any real concern over his inability to get along with others. He's Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory", if Sheldon had less charm than he does in his sitcom, and if he had the world to save.

We see Turing's life unfold as three interlaced stories - his ostracism at a boarding school (as he's played remarkably well by Alex Lawther), his arrest and trial for "gross indecency" in the early 1950s and, of course, his quest to break that enigmatic German military code ten years earlier. Along the way, we see Turing win over the members of his team and form a very close relationship with their one female colleague (Keira Knightley). The struggle to break the code is more absorbing and the "aha moment" when they finally do it is more exciting than you would expect, but that's not even close to the end of this saga. With the code broken, some extremely difficult decisions have to be made and extraordinary measures taken to use the team's discovery to the Allies' greatest advantage. And then there are other complications for the team and other personal struggles that Turing must negotiate because of who he is. Stephen King has said that no book gives up its secrets all at once. That's true of movies too and this one presents its many surprises masterfully. I hesitate even to call them plot twists, because the revelations and developments that occur throughout this movie feel organic and are brilliantly interwoven into the film's narrative.

"The Imitation Game" is movie-making at its best. It tells a fascinating and important story in a way that is enlightening and exceptionally entertaining. The backstory of the main character, the unfolding of the story at the film's center and the depiction of what happened to Turing after the war are incredibly well scripted and edited. The performances are solid throughout and the main actors are simply stellar. Knightley, Lawther and Mark Strong (who plays the team's main contact in the British intelligence community) could well be up for Oscar nominations, as should Cumberbatch who is unquestionably one of the greatest actors working today. And, for all its intellectual themes, it's as relatable as any movie this year. Like "Divergent" earlier in 2014, this film praises the virtue of individuality in a way that transcends the typical underdog or outcast story. In short, "The Imitation Game" is anything but. Its plot is no game and there's no imitating this cinematic gem. For the first time this year, I can say without hesitation, that I may well have just seen this year's Best Picture Oscar winner. Either way, nominations and awards aside, this is simply an outstanding cinematic accomplishment with something for everyone. "A+".