Beautifully done.

Rating: 10/10 (19 September 2019)

Based on the life of mathematician Alan Turing, The Imitation Game is the beautifully told story of a brilliant and persecuted man who played a major role in ending World War II. Played by Benedict Cumberbatch, Turing joins and eventually leads a British team in creating a machine capable of decrypting highly sensitive German communications. Their successful work turned the tide of war and eventually led the allies to victory. His story is poignantly juxtaposed against his future self, where he tells his story to a police investigator while being investigated for (and eventually convicted of) homosexuality. It also explores parts of his young life, including his first love and the beginning of his interest in cryptology. Keira Knightley plays Joan Clarke, a member of Turing's team who becomes his closest friend and, eventually, fiancÃ©e.
Directed by Morten Tyldum, the film brilliantly and seamlessly moves between Turing's childhood, the years he spent working on Enigma (1939-1945), and the period where he was persecuted for homosexuality (1951). There are plenty of clues that help the audience place the time period, making the back-and-forth movement uncomplicated. For example, in one scene we see the police detective trying to track down Turing's military records, in the next, we see Alan approaching a World War II-era military vehicle where troops are loading up. Narration (from Turing's interview with the detective) is pulled in and used to tie the time periods together at times.
The film uses montages extensively and skillfully. In one short montage, the screen shoots between conflicting scenes rapidly to show the link between these scholars' work and the war. It effectively portrays the effects their important work has on the war and hints at the effects that their momentous decisions have on them emotionally. A close-up of someone completing a mathematic equation is followed by actual footage of soldiers firing machine guns at targets. Bombs dropping, men dying, and the intelligence director opening up a document that surely came from Turing's group is followed by Alan running at a desperate and punishing pace. Through this montage, Turing is narrating what the war was like for their group. He vividly describes the years after their breakthrough, using evocative phrases like "blood-soaked calculus" and "fleets of ships weighing down the oceans." The dialogue here is stunning, but it is very nearly eclipsed by the emotionally consuming visuals.
The film is darker, with heavier themes than The Theory of Everything, another film that came out that year. Both are about extremely gifted men who were forced to confront momentous issues in their lifetimes. However, Imitation Game capitalizes on the magnitude of Turing's work by creating a suspenseful yet emotional film and weaves it skillfully with Turing's later plight with oppression. These two time periods were the most significant times of his life, and yet they really had little to do with each other. I'm not sure a film about his life could have left either time period out, nor could it have woven the two together more brilliantly. Tyldum's film about Alan Turing's life, accomplishments, and the tragedies that befell him is both engaging and bittersweet.