A MUST See to understand the reason we live free

Rating: 10/10 (5 April 2015)

Based upon a true story
During WWII math genius Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) leads a team of cryptologists to crack the German codes from the Enigma machine. Cracking of these German codes helped shorten WWII and saved millions of lives.
It is more than a shame that the Academy could not see that there were 2-movies (the other one being the Theory of Everything) that were equally deserving of an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director and Best anything else. The Imitation Game is wholly important because of Turing's building a machine that could decode Enigma, and, of course, the importance of Stephen Hawking's brilliance in science theories. What's wrong with having 2-movies share Oscars? Nothing. So there!
There are 2-stories in here. One dealing with decoding the Enigma machine and the other having to do with his homosexuality which was a crime. in England. It was just talked about. We see nothing uncomfortable within. Too many critics are complaining that this was not presented in a more open way. The real story here is the impact and decoding of Enigma and the effects on the whole world.
Detective Nock (Rory Kinnear) a local police detective believed there was something wrong with Turing when he investigated a break-in at Turing's house. The detective could not find anything in Turing's background including anything military, and suspected that he was a German spy. In the end Turing was charged with indecent exposure and agreed to Chemical Castration instead of going to jail. We see flashbacks to when Alan Turing was a student at a boy's school and meeting Christopher. Later Turing names his decoding machine Christopher.
The whole production is first rate and Cumberbatch does an excellent job portraying Turning. The whole cast performed well enough to have this movie win Oscars (note plural). Notables included Mark Strong, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, and Charles Dance.
Still the most important thing about this is the ENIGMA STORY itself. What happened during that time whether it concerned the Polish who were the first to decode Enigma or Turing's participation this must be HIT HOME: We live the way we do because of what happened during that time by all those involved. End of story. A great line by Joan Clark (Knightley) to Turning: "the world is an infinitely better place because of what you did." So true.
Since every time we get a "True Story" we really never know the whole truth about certain aspects. That is why those still interested in Alan Turing and Enigma should go to Wikipedia to learn more. And maybe those who do that will get a better appreciation of Alan Turing and of those who helped decode the Enigma machine.
Alan Turing committed suicide in 1954 and it is believed he bit into an apple laced with cyanide. Some say that Steve Jobs used the apple (with that bite) logo in honor of Alan Turing who became instrumental in the development of computers. (10/10)
Violence: Not really. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No. Rating: A