One of the best films I’ve seen this year, The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, is the story of Alan Turing, a mathematician who was responsible for cracking the Enigma code that ultimately resulted in England’s victory in World War II, and who, later in his life, was convicted for being gay in a country that saw homosexuality as a crime. Based on the biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, the film follows Turing as he and a group of others recruited by the British government attempt to crack the Enigma code and win the war. While we are watching them solve this “impossible puzzle,” we are also shown flashbacks to Turing’s life at boarding school – where we see Turing develop feelings for a fellow classmate – and flash-forwards to Turing being questioned by police, and later convicted and undergoing chemical castration as an alternative to incarceration. Through the flashbacks and flash-forwards, we are given a look at Turing’s struggles resulting from his being a homosexual in a time when the uncovering of such information would lead to punishment by the law.
So what is the importance of this story? Why did the makers of this film decide to show us the story of a man whose work saved millions of lives, who helped end a war, who helped change the course of history, and then show him being prosecuted for his sexual orientation? What is the perceived importance of this?
From all of this, the film could be read as an advocacy for LGBT rights. In fact, the film has been honored by the Human Rights Campaign (an LGBT civil rights advocacy group) for bringing Turing’s story to the big screen and allowing audiences to be exposed to his plight. The fact that he achieved great things, but in the end was prosecuted for being gay (and ended up committing suicide while undergoing chemical castration as a result) can be seen as showing the viewer the absolute absurdity of viewing one’s sexual orientation as a crime, or, frankly, any of their damn business. This story, though set in the middle of the twentieth century, seems to hold in today’s society, where acceptance is much more widespread but still a major issue when compared to the ideal world of equality that is deserved but not given to those who are different.
Another small but important aspect to look at is the film’s depiction of Joan Clarke (played by Keira Knightly), who helped Turing on his mission to crack Enigma. The scene in which she is introduced starts with a guard underestimating her simply because of her gender – and immediately Turing shows that he does not see her as incapable simply because she is a women, allowing her to audition for a spot on their team alongside all of the male applicants. When she proves to be one of the smartest people in the room, we are shown that she is, in fact, capable. Throughout the film, she defies the stereotypes that are placed on women, especially women in this time period, by being strong, highly intelligent, and independent. Only her parents’ wishes for her to find a husband and work jobs suitable for her gender seem to pull her back into the role that has been predetermined by her gender, according to society’s dictation. When Turing tells her that he is a homosexual, she still wants to marry him, saying that they can have an untraditional marriage in which they care for each other but are not intimate, and in which they treat each other as equals and form a partnership based on love and respect. Although Turing ends their engagement, this proclamation on Joan’s part shows that she is not like other girls, and that she defies the traditional stereotypes of women of her age, gender, and social class. This can be seen as another aspect of the film that holds in today’s world, where gender stereotypes – and how to break them – have become hot-button topics.
Apart from these things, the film itself features award-worthy acting on the part of Cumberbatch and possibly Knightly as well. The editing and cinematography certainly work together nicely – with all of the movement through time and space (there are several scenes and shots of things going on in the war, not directly apart of Turing’s story, to show the urgency of his work), good editing is a necessity. And the film certainly does deliver that, matching the scenes and shots together effortlessly to explain the story in a logical way.
Alan Turing didn’t just crack Enigma – he is considered the grandfather of computer science and what today we call Artificial Intelligence. The film explores his ideas about computers and their similarities and differences to humans – although this idea is briefly touched on and could have been explored more than it was – and he uses what he calls the “Imitation Game” to determine whether something is human or a computer. He tries this test on the cop interrogating him, attempting to get the cop to “identify” him by asking Turing questions. The cop is not able to give him an identifier, and through this scene we see that Turing is not quite sure who he is in this world, and maybe not quite sure what his place is. This entire scene is very vague, and we aren’t even given the entire story about how he ended up being convicted as a homosexual. Only a brief line of dialogue from Turing gives us any indication, but we gather that he had relations with a younger man and was somehow found out.
His relationship with Christopher, one of his schoolmates, while he is at boarding school (during the film’s flashbacks) is tied together with his very real love for his computer, also named Christopher. In one of the last scenes of the film, we see Turing melting down at the thought of the government incarcerating him and taking his computer away. Joan, who is present for this, leaves, and we see Turing looking fondly at the computer before shutting off the lights and retiring for the night. We are then told, via subtitles, that Turing commits suicide shortly thereafter.
There is also something to be said about Turing’s feelings towards his contributions to the war. He admits that he does not see himself as God – he sees himself as better than God. There is no doubt that he realizes his power and the weight of his contributions. Throughout the film, he is not shy about showing off his intelligence. He is an incredibly smart man, and he is not humble about it. But this gives us something interesting to watch – instead of the humble genius that we see a lot in films, we see a man who is harder to connect with, someone who you would think would be harder to like (even though that ends up not being the case) because he has such a big ego. But the fact that he is able to back up his words with action shows that his big ego is well deserved, and of course we sympathize with him as we are taken on his journey of suffering.
The film is heartbreaking, to say the least, but incredibly powerful in its messages, whether they be subtle or obvious. And the film is full of both, making it an interesting watch. There is something enigmatic about Turing. There is something special. As he says repeatedly during the film: “Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.” And that he certainly does.
So what is the importance of this story? Why did the makers of this film decide to show us the story of a man whose work saved millions of lives, who helped end a war, who helped change the course of history, and then show him being prosecuted for his sexual orientation? What is the perceived importance of this?
From all of this, the film could be read as an advocacy for LGBT rights. In fact, the film has been honored by the Human Rights Campaign (an LGBT civil rights advocacy group) for bringing Turing’s story to the big screen and allowing audiences to be exposed to his plight. The fact that he achieved great things, but in the end was prosecuted for being gay (and ended up committing suicide while undergoing chemical castration as a result) can be seen as showing the viewer the absolute absurdity of viewing one’s sexual orientation as a crime, or, frankly, any of their damn business. This story, though set in the middle of the twentieth century, seems to hold in today’s society, where acceptance is much more widespread but still a major issue when compared to the ideal world of equality that is deserved but not given to those who are different.
Another small but important aspect to look at is the film’s depiction of Joan Clarke (played by Keira Knightly), who helped Turing on his mission to crack Enigma. The scene in which she is introduced starts with a guard underestimating her simply because of her gender – and immediately Turing shows that he does not see her as incapable simply because she is a women, allowing her to audition for a spot on their team alongside all of the male applicants. When she proves to be one of the smartest people in the room, we are shown that she is, in fact, capable. Throughout the film, she defies the stereotypes that are placed on women, especially women in this time period, by being strong, highly intelligent, and independent. Only her parents’ wishes for her to find a husband and work jobs suitable for her gender seem to pull her back into the role that has been predetermined by her gender, according to society’s dictation. When Turing tells her that he is a homosexual, she still wants to marry him, saying that they can have an untraditional marriage in which they care for each other but are not intimate, and in which they treat each other as equals and form a partnership based on love and respect. Although Turing ends their engagement, this proclamation on Joan’s part shows that she is not like other girls, and that she defies the traditional stereotypes of women of her age, gender, and social class. This can be seen as another aspect of the film that holds in today’s world, where gender stereotypes – and how to break them – have become hot-button topics.
Apart from these things, the film itself features award-worthy acting on the part of Cumberbatch and possibly Knightly as well. The editing and cinematography certainly work together nicely – with all of the movement through time and space (there are several scenes and shots of things going on in the war, not directly apart of Turing’s story, to show the urgency of his work), good editing is a necessity. And the film certainly does deliver that, matching the scenes and shots together effortlessly to explain the story in a logical way.
Alan Turing didn’t just crack Enigma – he is considered the grandfather of computer science and what today we call Artificial Intelligence. The film explores his ideas about computers and their similarities and differences to humans – although this idea is briefly touched on and could have been explored more than it was – and he uses what he calls the “Imitation Game” to determine whether something is human or a computer. He tries this test on the cop interrogating him, attempting to get the cop to “identify” him by asking Turing questions. The cop is not able to give him an identifier, and through this scene we see that Turing is not quite sure who he is in this world, and maybe not quite sure what his place is. This entire scene is very vague, and we aren’t even given the entire story about how he ended up being convicted as a homosexual. Only a brief line of dialogue from Turing gives us any indication, but we gather that he had relations with a younger man and was somehow found out.
His relationship with Christopher, one of his schoolmates, while he is at boarding school (during the film’s flashbacks) is tied together with his very real love for his computer, also named Christopher. In one of the last scenes of the film, we see Turing melting down at the thought of the government incarcerating him and taking his computer away. Joan, who is present for this, leaves, and we see Turing looking fondly at the computer before shutting off the lights and retiring for the night. We are then told, via subtitles, that Turing commits suicide shortly thereafter.
There is also something to be said about Turing’s feelings towards his contributions to the war. He admits that he does not see himself as God – he sees himself as better than God. There is no doubt that he realizes his power and the weight of his contributions. Throughout the film, he is not shy about showing off his intelligence. He is an incredibly smart man, and he is not humble about it. But this gives us something interesting to watch – instead of the humble genius that we see a lot in films, we see a man who is harder to connect with, someone who you would think would be harder to like (even though that ends up not being the case) because he has such a big ego. But the fact that he is able to back up his words with action shows that his big ego is well deserved, and of course we sympathize with him as we are taken on his journey of suffering.
The film is heartbreaking, to say the least, but incredibly powerful in its messages, whether they be subtle or obvious. And the film is full of both, making it an interesting watch. There is something enigmatic about Turing. There is something special. As he says repeatedly during the film: “Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.” And that he certainly does.