Outstanding Cumberbatch Performance

Rating: 9/10 (25 November 2014)

25 November 2014 Fiona's First Film of Choice at The Plaza Dorchester Tonight - The Imitation Game. Benedict Cumberbatch made a shrewd move when he took on the role of Alan Turing in this film. Based on the true story of one the finest mathematical minds of his time, Turing is employed at Bletchley Park as part of a team charged with breaking the Enigma Code, and saving millions of lives. As with a lot of clever minds, he is grossly under appreciated and comes close to having the plug pulled on the whole project. Cumberbatch brings his own special qualities to what was a tortured mind, in a person persecuted not only for being more clever than those around him from a very young age, but also ultimately persecuted for his homosexuality, something that was illegal and punishable by law in his lifetime. Kiera Knightley played Joan, the only woman in an otherwise all male team and many will recognise Allen Leech, the lovely Branson from Downton Abbey as a fellow great brain in Turing's team. Another person to note is the detective, Robert Nock, played by the simply wonderful Rory Kinnear, who looks more like his father every day. This was a very watchable portrayal of the top secret events that occurred at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.