A truthful glimpse into the unique life of Alan Turing

Rating: 8/10 (21 October 2017)

The Imitation Game is a honest and truthful glimpse (or at least as truthful as a Hollywood movie can be) on the life and works of Alan Turing, one of the founders of modern Computer Science as we know it. Now to be sure, the greatest work that Turing did was formulating the theory of Turing machines and decidability, but since that work is not really exciting or dramatic enough, the movie focuses on his work on breaking the cryptographic Enigma code used by the Axis in the Second world war.
Now I was slightly disappointed during the first half of the movie, focusing on the usual melodrama involving unsocial and mis-understood geniuses, love interests, 'traumatic' childhood memories, uncooperative bureaucracy, unknown spies and double agents, etc., but Turing lived a unique and singular life, and the second half exemplifies this. As Turing understood so well, while breaking the Enigma code was a challenge, the even harder problem was what to do after it was broken, and how to use all the un-encrypted information strategically so that the Axis would remain blissfully ignorant of their vulnerability. The movie unfortunately does not dwell much on this exciting storyline, which could have provided a much more interesting and unique look at what was going on behind the scenes in the Second world war.
The final years of Turing's life were a tragedy, and fortunately, the movie does not shy away from these ugly details. We can only wonder at what discoveries Turing could have made if he had been allowed to work with freedom and support. But, be that as it may, Turing's legacy will continue to live on in the future, and for us mortals, the immortality of their works and ideas, their name is the greatest achievement that we can hope for.