Brilliant on brilliance

Rating: 8/10 (13 October 2015)

I expected to enjoy this film, and it met all my expectations.
Benedict Cumberbatch was brilliant as the brilliant game theorist/mathematician/computer scientist who broke the Nazi Enigma code. The fact that he was also a gay loner trying to imitate others at the game of life, was poignantly woven into the story, but not in the in- your-face way that some activist movies do so heavy-handedly. Every element of this film is well-conceived and put together, from the scenes of Turing brooding in his house, to his odd platonic love affair with a brilliant puzzle solver played by actress Keira Nightley, to the scenes of combat and destruction that juxtapose with the brain- work of chess players and mathematicians trying to break a code before Britain loses the war. The film has its evil player in commander Denniston, played wonderfully by Charles Dance. We cannot help but sympathize with him, if we are honest with ourselves: Turing's plan is so improbable, would we not have tried to fire him after a year of arrogantly wasted money? Every character in this film has complexity, but without the over-development that occurs in some biopics.
I particularly give this film credit for picking up a maligned and difficult-to-defend concept: that it can be more humane to look at the grand picture and do what is right, rather than let your emotions dictate your actions of the moment. It comes across when Turing stays his colleagues, who are about to save hundreds of people after cracking the code. Turing immediately realizes that to save millions, these hundreds must be sacrificed so the Germans can be kept in the dark and the knowledge of Enigma can be used subtly and to the greatest effect.
My wife is not a big movie buff, so when she really likes a film, it must be good. She really did like this film. I can tell because she paused it several times to ask questions about it. Usually she is happy to let it zip by as fast as possible, give me the x2 button on the remote!
Norwegian director Morten Tydlum only makes a film every 4 years or so, and I swear they have been getting better and better with time. I once so much hoped this would happen to M Knight Shyamalan, who started out with a wondrous ability to blend the real and unreal, but lost it the more money he was given. Let's hope Tydlum keeps his deft touch even after Hollywood throws more money at him.