Cumberbatch's greatest

Rating: 8/10 (6 January 2015)

Quickie Review:
In the midst of WWII Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), a brilliant British mathematician, along with his colleagues attempt to break the Enigma code. As Turing tries to uncover Nazi secrets, he must keep his own secrets hidden in a world that does not accept his personal desires. The Imitation Game, is a deeply moving story about the people behind the scenes of a war. The great cast is vastly overshadowed by the performance given by Benedict Cumberbatch, possibly his best so far. This is a beautifully directed, written, scored, and acted film that should not be missed. It is worth all the awards buzz it has been getting.
Full Review:
Last time I heard of Alan Turing was a brief mention in a documentary about secret historic scientific research, which in this case is the Enigma machine decoder. I know of his contribution to the war effort and science, but as for the man himself I know very little. The fact that The Imitation Game concentrates on the man rather than the machine is what makes it all the more interesting.
By far the greatest strength of the movie is Cumberbatch's portrayal of Turing. At this point does it really come as surprise that his acting is good in a movie? No, probably not. But is he exceptional beyond his norm? Most definitely yes. Turing was not exactly a likable person, he had problems communicating, often being mistaken for being rude or insensitive. Cumberbatch captures these mannerisms of Turing perfectly. He gets us to figure out what he is trying to say or mean, much the same way he is figuring out the meaning of the Enigma code. This makes it more engaging for us to watch the conversations of the characters unfold. Of course a well written dialog doesn't hurt in that aspect as well. The rest of the cast were also a great addition, especially Keira Kightley who brought a lot heart to her character. The scenes with her and Cumberbatch were some of the more emotionally impactful scenes in the film.
Many would think of the battles fought by soldiers with guns when talking about a WWII movie. Even just recently we had a release called Fury. However, in The Imitation Game it's refreshing to see the contributions made by the people behind desks, back in their homes, working daily to help stop the war early. We get to see the failures, the triumphs, the burden of responsibility they bear, and the moral issues they must confront. It's fair to say that these efforts mostly go unnoticed by the public. So I appreciate that the movie sheds some light on this side of WWII. More importantly, I appreciate that the movie does not shy away from exploring the hardships Turing had to go through to hide his homosexuality. The contrast between how the LGBT are viewed back then compared to now is striking. The way that part of the story was handled really added to one of the most poignant endings to a film in recent memory.
Sure I didn't mention the problems of the movie, but ultimately the negatives are not prominent enough to detract you from a beautiful story. I highly recommend this movie to anyone really, because I suspect not many people in the mainstream know of Alan Turing. It's important to see how this one person affected the world. "Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."
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