MOVIE REVIEW: THE IMITATION MAN (2015)

"CAN THIS BE LOVE? (in the loudest whisper tone) .... I am used to bedding men but never women."

He is a cryptanalyst cum mathematician, an enigma with so much to share with this dreary world, yet he harbors a dangerous secret of the time  ..... that he's a latent homosexual.

She is a beautiful colleague whom he does not love.

His gung-ho colleagues sharing happier days.

THE IMITATION GAME (2015) MOVIE REVIEW

The plot line:

During the winter of 1952, British authorities entered the home of mathematician cum cryptanalyst Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to investigate a reported burglary.

They accidentally uncovered facts which pointed out that Alan Turing was a closeted gay. And that being gay was a crime punishable by law.

Therefore they ended up arresting Turing himself on charges of 'gross indecency', an accusation that would lead to his devastating conviction for the criminal offense of homosexuality.

Little did the officials know, they were actually incriminating the pioneer of modern-day computing. And even if they knew, they couldn't have cared less as we can see when the story moved along.

Famously leading a motley group of scholars, linguists, chess champions and intelligence officers, he was credited with cracking the so-called unbreakable codes of Germany's World War II Enigma machine.

This film is an intense and haunting probe into a brilliant, complicated man.

THE IMITATION GAME declares a true story of a genius who is under nail-biting pressure to helped shorten the war and, in turn, save thousands of lives.

Instead of being acknowledged for his contributions as a genius of the time, he is prosecuted for being a gay man.

Much of the movie is about Turing's personal history as a homosexual and his great contributions in breaking the German codes developed through the “Enigma Machine,” a device which could produce highly complex codes that were extremely hard to decipher.

The electric powered device, consisting of wheels and different circuit combinations, was set to different configurations daily, making decryption speed a high priority for the allies in World War II.

 FOOTNOTE:

Benedict Cumberbatch who portrays the role of Alan Turing is a brilliant actor and the perfect choice to play the man.

Director Morten Tyldum excels at generating drama.

There are significant flashbacks to Turing’s boyhood, where he was bullied for wanting to keep his peas and carrots separate; war-time scenes of Turing and his team trying to crack the Enigma code; and flash-forwards to the end of Turing’s life, which was cut short by England’s brutal anti-homosexuality laws.

This is a sad story that unravels with what was then.

Now even defying gays are living openly as couples.

Time changes everything. Or most anything.

Right.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Local Distributor: GSC Movies