Movies: The Imitation Game

Score:  ****1/2 out of ***** (A)

Long Story Short:  One of the season's leading Oscar contenders, The Imitation Game fully lives up to its reputation.  Based on the story of the mission to break the Nazi Enigma code, Cumberbatch is superlative as the hero-turned-persecuted Alan Turing.  He's supported by a great cast, and the script does a great job of balancing absorbing realism with genuine dramatic interest.  Must see.


Here it is - my last film review for a movie released in 2014!  I hope to have my year-end review up next week, with my usual top 10, blurbs on movies seen out of the theater, awards, etc.  There are several movies that technically came out in 2014 - in NY and LA - but I go by the wide release date (hence films like Selma will be counted as 2015 for me, unlike the Oscars).  Boy, am I excited for the movies coming out this year!  But first, I wanted to catch as many Oscar contenders from the late fall/winter season as possible.  The Imitation Game finally hit theaters around me (somewhat after the supposed "wide release"), and I was very intrigued by both the subject matter and the acting talent of the lead.  The Imitation Game was directed by Morten Tyldum and stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley.

As the Nazis advanced seemingly unstoppably in the early years of World War II, Britain desperately looked for something to give it an edge in the conflict - to survive, even.  Mathematics genius Alan Turing (Cumberbatch) is called on by the military to work with a group of cryptographers to try to solve Germany's message-encrypting Enigma machine.  Working in isolation, the group chafes at Turing's fantastical designs to build his own machine to solve the puzzle.  Reaching out for extra help, Turing meets a genius to match his own - Joan Clarke (Knightley) - who advances the cause but also complicates things for Turing who has a secret that could unravel all his efforts.  Turing and his team achieve amazing success in cracking the Enigma - but tragically, the end of one war simply means the beginning of another.

The Imitation Game is filled with great performances, and it all starts at the top.  Alan Turing is a character not too unlike another of Benedict Cumberbatch's famous roles: Sherlock Holmes.  As in that TV show, Cumberbatch is phenomenal.  Carrying over similar anti-social tendencies, he inhabits another major part of Turing, the tragedy, with equal effectiveness.  Like Sherlock, you can just imagine the genius going on behind his eyes, all the while being practically blind to those around him (which imparts arrogance, humor, but also sympathy).  And when Turing is forced to confront the "crime" of his nature, his innocence and lack of understanding are heartbreaking.  Cumberbatch is simply riveting, and is truly worthy of the focus of the film.  

Knightley has a fairly small role as his partner Joan, but she also does great work.  She is well known for her work in period roles like this, and this is one of the stronger I've seen her in.  Joan gives Alan as good as she gets, and has a unique relationship with him, almost sister-like in some ways.  While small, her role is also a big boost to the film.  There are also plenty of nice supporting roles such as Matthew Goode as one of Alan's group (his chief rival, but honorable man); Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) as the skeptical, practically hostile commanding officer; and Alex Lawther as a school-age Turing.

The Imitation Game is one of the best overall films I've seen in quite a while, strong in virtually every area.  As mentioned in my Unbroken review, historical dramas can be quite challenging, but this film succeeds on the two biggest fronts:  historical realism, and dramatic interest.  Now, I don't know the particulars of this story to tell, but it certainly seemed genuine to me.  Imitation Game provides plenty of details to do this (from how the Enigma worked to the setting), but not so much that you get bogged down in it.  Perhaps more impressive is how much dramatic interest it creates.  Let's face it - a bunch of nerds taking years to try to decode essentially a black box could be dull; or force writers to make up a lot of stuff to make up for it.  However, the script effectively conveys the direct difficulty of the task - and adds on top of it pressure from military brass, Turing's own skeptical group, and occasional glimpses of the war's wider stakes to hold you rapt.  You exult in the successes (personal as well as professional - with a clever little line that symbolizes it all and gets repeated in the appropriate places), and are deeply moved by the losses and injustices.  The film also does a good job of keeping the pace flowing by moving fluidly among three time periods:  WWII efforts to break Enigma (the main one), Turing as a school boy, and Turing under investigation after the war.

***

The Imitation Game was a great way to finish up the calendar year in film.  I saw several films based on either true stories or in war, and this one beats them all.  Cumberbatch's performance is certainly worthy of an Oscar nomination, and the entire cast should be up for one in whichever award show does that (Screen Actor's Guild?).  Also worthy of commendation is writer Graham Moore, for the reasons mentioned above.  A great film, and hopefully I'll be able to see more of the frontrunners before the Oscars.  Highly recommended.




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