THE IMITATION GAME

THE IMITATION GAME is one of the biggest let downs in recent memory. When I first heard about the film it sounded like pure Oscar bait to me. Then a friend at work told me the story about Alan Turing. A British mathematician who cracked the Nazi enigma code during WWII. In 1952 he was prosecuted for being homosexual and accepted chemical castration as a alternative to prison. Two years later he killed himself. Such a sad story for a man who helped end a world war and basically invent the first computer.

If you want to know the story of Alan Turing I suggest you read the book that the films screenplay was based on, because you'll probably be more satisfied than what THE IMITATION GAME has to offer. THE IMITATION GAME is an incomplete film. It's incomplete on a emotional level. A total whitewash if you ask me!

The film shows us three significant times in Alan's life. In 1952 being interrogated/filing a report for a break-in at his home, During World War II being hired to crack the Nazi enigma code, and we see him in boarding school getting picked on for being different. Most of the films running time focuses on Alan and other mathematicians trying to break the code.

This was really only the best part of the movie. I really liked how Cumberbatch played Alan as the smartest mathematician in the room. The cast is great all around. Strong characters, especially Joan Clarke played by Keira Knightly. Two great scenes involving Keira, the first one being her introduction. To pick a team worthy of working beside Alan, he creates a test that has to be solved in under 10 minutes (or something like that) and Miss Clarke solves it in the quickest time. It's a really good scene. The second one is where Joan reveals to Alan that she knows he's gay buy still wants to marry him because of the mission and to keep him safe.

It's after Turing and his team crack the code that the film starts to loose it's steam. It looses it's identity. Throughout the movie we are giving clues that he is gay. Which by the way added nothing dramatically to the story. I say this because all the build up leads to nothing. He's gay, so what? Why should the audience feel sympathy for this character when we are not taken on that journey as film goers?

Possible spoiler alert!

The film ends several years after the war and Joan comes to visit Alan. He is weak and frail. Putting two and two together it's because of his court ordered chemical castration. Then the film ends with text telling us Alan was prosecuted because he was gay...his war heroism was kept top secret because of national security...he later killed himself because of his chemical castration. Tragic? Absolutely! Do I care? Yeah, but I'll have to read the book to truly grasp what Alan Turing really went through, meaning the whole story. Because the movie certainly failed detailing the events of his life after WWII. But that's just my opinion.

The Oscar nominations that THE IMITATION GAME has received is a clear indication just how deep the pockets of Harvey Weinstein truly are. This film shouldn't be in the running, especially for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.