Satisfying human drama

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2015)

Give me any British World War 2 movie (with a few exceptions) and I'm bound to like it. And I confess, I'm a Cumberbabe, so I expected to be seduced by Benedict Cumberbatch's heart-warming performance. He brought all his intelligence, dedication and charm to this movie, and didn't disappoint.
Keira Knightley was passable too. Critics complain that she was too "cute" to play Joan Clarke, who in real life was rather plain, but I could forgive that. She did a good job of shining a sympathetic light on Turing and portraying a brilliant woman, capable of social graces AND advanced mathematics, while struggling with the chauvinist conventions of the time. It wasn't a major theme, but it was a nice nod to feminism and how far we've come today.
Charles Dance's Tywin Lannister-esque portrayal of Commander Denniston was enjoyable. Critics complain that his character was too 1-dimensional and not historically accurate, but it was fun to watch. Dance is a master of the withering look! Apparently, Denniston's impatience and ignorance of Turing's genius, was exaggerated to show how MOST military generals of the time would have treated him.
Alex Lawther was impressive as the young Alan Turing, especially during the tragic scene where he learns of his friend's death. He played the tortured, bullied, genius boy heart-breakingly well.
As for historical inaccuracies and the "gay rights" issue? Opinions on this film vary greatly depending on your agenda and expectations. If you're hoping for a truly historically accurate biopic, you'll be disappointed; you'll find anachronisms and gaffes. If you're hoping for a gay-rights campaign movie you'll be disappointed with the lack of focus on Turing's barbaric arrest and punishment after the war. I personally think it handled the "gay rights" subject very well, with enough to show how far we've come today, in a relatively short time, and how uncomfortably true it is that homophobia still abounds, even if more undercover these days.
Critics seems to have overlooked some of the main, humanist themes of the movie.
1. Artificial Intelligence. How do we feel about computers and artificial intelligence? The movie explores some of our conflicting ideas about machines - how they work and how they possibly "think" - are they like or not like humans? This is what Turing's life work was about. He created the "Imitation Game"- a way of testing the difference between artificial and human intelligence. Computers can calculate, predict and solve problems faster than human brains, but they cannot *be* like humans because they cannot feel love, hatred, etc. Turing, being a brilliant mind himself, and being so tortured in his social life, loved his computer because, unlike his human "friends", it did not judge him for being "different", it did not bully or betray him. Computers can be controlled and programmed; we can trust them to work for us, without using violence or betrayal.
2. Violence. The movie explores this human phenomenon, through the global setting of World War 2 and the personal setting of Turing's life. It delves into why we humans enjoy violence so much. Turing learns (from his childhood bullying) that humans enjoy violence because the reaction to it is satisfying. If there is no reaction to it, it becomes boring: - hence his decision to stop shouting and fighting back during one of the bullying scenes. Turing suffered his own private "war" on a personal level, while the world around him waged war and engaged in large-scale violence, over similar aspects of human nature: - the intolerance of "difference".
3. Intolerance of "difference". I love the parallel between Turing's life: - society's intolerance of his homosexuality (and the resulting violence) and the cause behind World War 2: - Hitler's intolerance of Jews and any humans with "different" traits to his insane ideals (and the resulting violence on a huge scale). Intolerance of difference was not only aimed at Turing's homosexuality, but also his "autistic spectrum-like" characteristics, e.g. social awkwardness, inability to "get" jokes or sarcasm, literal-mindedness, unabashed arrogance, etc. Critics complained that his "spectrumy" traits were over-exaggerated; that in fact Turing had many friends in real life, and was quite humorous and charming. But, the idea was to emphasize the human intolerance of "difference" and how it becomes a real problem of survival, especially in life and death situations and war. Those who can "fit in" are more likely to survive attacks, while those who can't, are more likely to be ostracized or even killed.
4. Intelligence versus mindlessness. Above all, this movie sings the praises of human intelligence. Turing was a true war hero. Not because he strode forth on the battlefield and wielded physical weapons, but because he defeated the "Enigma" machine, with his intelligence, creativity, mathematical genius and his immense dedication and passion. Ironically, he cracked the seemingly unbreakable code, by eventually finding a weakness in it: - a HUMAN weakness. Apparently, he discovered that a German soldier, entering the coded messages, let down his guard a little, by using the name of his girlfriend as a precursor to all his coded messages, rendering his code predictable enough to be cracked. Whether this piece of historical fact is actually true or not, it is a GREAT representation of how human weakness (i.e. sentimentality) becomes humanity's downfall against the totally emotionless intelligence of the computer.
AND YET, the movie reminds us that it is *human* intelligence which conquers evil, because it involves creativity, love, passion and DEDICATION. Human intelligence will eventually overcome anything - even the mindless violence of a mass murderer like Hitler and the mindless violence of weapons of war.
Some critics have said, "how can you make intellectual, mathematical work exciting or dramatic on film?" Well, I think this movie did a fantastic job. While not pleasing everyone, of course, it managed to be a satisfying psychological drama, combined with action, mystery, thriller and human charm.