A film that fails to make a statement and lacks depth

Rating: 5/10 (26 February 2015)

first warn you: This review contains spoilers, but I try to keep them short.
When you go to see this film and already know a little about Alan Turing, his life and work, you will not learn much new. I've seen the film a few days after it received the academy award for the best writing (adapted screenplay). But I don't know why it received this.
(Spoiler) The film is telling the story of Alan Turing, mathematical genius, who had a huge influence on the development of computer and an important role in the second world war. Also, it is a story about a homosexual man, who is forced to hide this part of his life and in the end will commit suicide because of a society and laws that call him a pervert.
The film tells this story (or stories) about three different times in Turing's life. The main story is about Turing cracking the German encryption system during WW2. He builds a machine (computer) and has to deal with some obstacles (military chain of command, colleagues with different approaches and secret service agents). The other setting is Turing as a kid in a private school where he had only one friend. The kid is different from all the others, smarter but also homosexual. And the third is the time after the war when Turing is a professor. Someone breaks into his house and a police officer starts to investigate not only the crime but Turing's past. I think that's as much detail as necessary for this review.
The problem is, the film lacks depth. And one reason is the structure.
Turing's childhood, the root of his problems in society and his personally, is told in such short pieces, that it is hard to connect. There are no parents, only Turing, his friend and math. All this short flashbacks into the childhood were not given the time to unfold the deepness of a child's personality. (The fact that Turing was a very shy character doesn't help the film either.)
The major part of the story is about Turing and his team cracking the enigma. This is a technical and scientific process and no one can expect much action. But again, a lack of depth. It is shown that this process is time and money consuming. But the viewer gets hardly any details. The work done by Polish experts? Mentioned in one sentence. What Turing is developing? Kept as simple as possible. (Maybe because the audience wouldn't understand it like the British military didn't understand technical details back in the days. / just to mention it: Turing was not the only pioneer in computer science.) The problem is, the film tries to avoid any conflict. Even when moral questions come up, they are handled with logic. Conflicts are solved (or ignored) within a few moments and that's it. Not that there isn't any potential for conflicts (plenty). Personal consequences? We better ignore them. But that's history. If it was like that, I can't argue with it. (Many reviewer pointed out that the historic facts were different.)
The biggest fail of the film is how it handles the problems Turing has because of his homosexuality. First, it never gets physical. It does not have to get sexual. But (spoiler alert), if the burglar is a homosexual prostitute, why is not even the burglary or any other situation when Turing meets this man shown? Homosexuality is talked about a lot, but it is never part of the film. And I don't mean sex. Moreover, important parts are left out of the film. The trial is only some news in the paper. Chemical castration is handled within a few minutes. Turing's final struggle and his suicide is not even part of the film.
With a script that leaves the important parts free or avoids depth, a structure that makes it hard to connect to the characters. I can't blame the actors. I expected more from a film that received several award nominations and even won some.
There is a lot of potential left in this story. The opportunity of indictment and condemnation against an intolerant time and society was not taken. There were attempts to show the viewers the impact of everything, original footage from WW2 or the stats at the end, but it was hardly connected to the story. It wouldn't have been important to make a statement against homophobia or for feminism (what some are criticising). It would've been important to take up the position against the old and glory Empire and for all the victims of that time. To do them justice.
It is like the film makers didn't really know how to make this statement and tell this story properly. So they took it, they took all the injustice and were not able to care. They took it like Turing would have taken it, because it is personal and we're not good at being personal. I was not touched and the film did not gave me a good or a bad feeling. It did not provoke me either. It informed me, not more and not very accurate.
Alan Turing a pioneer in science, a war hero and a victim of an intolerant society and intolerant laws would have deserved more. All I learned: Nobody stood up for this man when it mattered. And that did not change.
The story of Turing's life is a big tragedy. But the film is not able to keep up to it.