Breaking the code

Film review: The Imitation Game

MANILA, Philippines - Still showing in cinemas is another film that has earned Oscar nominations — Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, among others. The film is The Imitation Game.

Ostensibly a historical thriller biopic about Alan Turing’s work breaking the Nazi Enigma Code during World War II, it’s a film that tackles bigger issues such as breaking unwritten codes and conventions, the isolation of genius and gay rights. Mathematician, cryptanalyst, logician, the Father of Theoretical Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, Turing is brilliantly portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch as a tortured soul trying to do his duty to country in the midst of war. Tortured because he was living in a time when homosexuality was publicly condemned, and because his genius also meant he possessed distinct socializing disabilities. And yet, he has to work on a team attempting to break the German code that gave daily instructions to Nazi planes, ships and U-boats on how to attack England.

As directed by Morten Tyldum in his English language directorial debut, Imitation Game is a tautly-written, elegantly-restrained thriller that satisfies on several levels. It is an engrossing portrait of a man encumbered by social conventions trying to prove his worth. While some have levied minor historical inaccuracies, it is also a telling snapshot of the desperation of wartime endeavors, and how the military hierarchy and value system work. Although bearing deep tragic overtones, it’s also about triumph in the midst of anonymity and secrecy.

Cumberbatch is truly wonderful in showcasing the social ineptitude, the eccentricities and personality of Turing. There are also shafts of humor, as when Turing attempts, against his inner nature, to be a team player with apples or a kind word.

Keira Knightley as the only woman recruited to join Turing’s team is a wonderful “mirror” to how in those times, it was so difficult to be different and serving country. As a woman, it was only expected that she be part of the war effort as a nurse or social worker — to be deemed a mental equal as recruited by Turing himself was unheard of. The pacifying influence she played in his life is wonderfully recaptured. Recreating Bletchley Park and the atmosphere of the times is also part of the film’s magic. And while some have decried how the homosexual issue is downplayed, I felt it was given sufficient attention, the horror of chemical castration post-war is a sad indictment of how the law would treat and/or tolerate these individuals.

Turing may not be a recognized war hero nor will he ever be held up as some role model but as this film shows us, it often is from the unexpected that much good work is done. And we can never discount the lives he saved via his work breaking the Enigma Code. This may be a minor story of World War II, a minor masterpiece of a film. But without serving up “the fire and the glory,” it is a testament to the many ways duty to country can be served — and how “servants” may be forgotten or maltreated.