A fine example of how to tell a true story

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2015)

When you are watching a film that is based on a true story which you know nothing about it's a very different experience to watching one you know a lot about. I personally knew almost nothing about the work of Alan Turing and the effect he had on the second World War and from that stand-point I found it to be a fantastic film. I've been told by a reliable source (and also read a lot on IMDb message board threads) that a lot of facts/events in the film were falsified or altered for artistic purposes. While this is a bit of shame I think people need to keep in mind the difference between a movie and a documentary. As long as nothing major or character defining is changed I see no harm in changes that simply make the film more entertaining and enjoyable. This was the number one problem I had with fellow Best Picture nominee at the Academy Awards this year 'Selma'. Give me this over that any day.
Benedict Cumberbatch has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Lead Role for his performance in 'The Imitation Game'. From what I'm told he absolutely perfected the character of Turing. Turing looks like he would have been a fun character to portray. He certainly seems to have been an unusual man. The saying, "There's a fine line between genius and insanity" comes immediately to mind when speaking of him. A very fine performance but I can't see him taking the award home sadly, it was a very strong category this year.
Speaking of strong categories, Best Supporting Actress was quite the opposite. Patricia Arquette is almost certain to take the award home for 'Boyhood' without almost any competition at all. Every other performance in the category has been about as bland as you could imagine and Keira Knightly in 'The Imitation Game' is no exception. That's not to say she's bad or anything of the sort. She's just simply nothing memorable or even a stand-out in the film. I kept thinking she must have an amazing final scene coming up that's going to blow me away, but no, it just never came.
I suspect the only thing holding this back from taking a real crack at winning Best Picture is the small controversy marring it over "historical inaccuracies". Those aside it really is a well put together and moving film that gives a great insight into the genius that Turing was. What happened to him and his treatment by the courts was nothing short of a travesty. I absolutely loved Cumberbatch's quote regarding Turing's recent Royal Pardon, "The only person who should be pardoning anybody is him (Turing)." Sums the whole thing up perfectly. A very fine film, about a very fine man.