Review of The Imitation Game, directed by Morten Tyldum

For the longest time, I had no intention of ever watching The Imitation Game. I had no interest in the plot, although I’ve ready up plenty on Alan Turing and his historical and scientific significance. That man truly needed some justice in his era.

Despite easily having access to this movie, as it was on Netflix for the longest time, I put off of on it until the summer of 2022. Why then, you ask? Well, I had ventured to New York City for work (I work in film as a critic and in theater there), and I bought a bunch of tickets to shows.

One of the shows I purchased a ticket to was Hamlet at the Park Avenue Armory, which was four hours of Alex Lawther having a temper tantrum. Some of the best acting I’ve seen so far on an Off-Broadway stage, but it did get kind of painful if you’re not into a contemporary Hamlet.

So when I was reading his bio in intermission number three (it was so long they had multiple intermissions), I saw that Lawther was actually in The Imitation Game. That got the ball rolling in my head, and then when it came time to go home, I ended up watching the movie when back in my own bed.

That said, I recently decided to revisit the movie as I was reading about Turing. So here’s my review from the updated watch!

The Story of Alan Turing and how he created a machine that changed World War II.

This is a story that weaves between past and present, but we begin with the current moment in the story. The year is 1951 and Alan Turing is being investigated by two police officers, as a break in has just occurred at his home. Turing, in the middle of the session, starts talking about his time within Bletchley Park.

We then move to the past, when Turing was a high schooler at a boarding school. Deeply unpopular, he’s bullied by his classmates and doesn’t really have a voice, but when he meets a boy named Christopher Morcom, he realizes he’s gay. Morcom also inspires Turing to look more into cryptography.

However, as Turing comes into his romantic feelings and acknowledges them, Morcom dies of TB. Years later, as the Brits declare war on Germany, officially entering World War II, Turing goes to Bletchley Park and joins a team with some of the most brilliant minds within the country.

There, they are told to break the Enigma Machine, which is the Nazi’s choice to send messages between each other. It seems like a difficult task at first, especially because Turing would rather play by himself than with the team. He decides they’re all idiots and goes off to build his own machine.

Their supervisor tells him no, he will not get any money for this machine, and then Turing decides to take matters even more into his own hands. He sends a letter to Winston Churchill, who tells his boss to put Turing in charge of the entire operation.

Now the head honcho of the team, Turing decides to fire two of the members, and puts out a code in the newspapers to find their next member. A young woman named Joan is the one to solve the test, but because of her traditional parents, they forbid her from working with all of these men.

Turing hires her as a secretary instead, passing her off as one so she can work with the team. Over time, they’re starting to feel more like a team, and the machine is made. It does not decode the codes quick enough though, but, as Turing is threatened with being fired, his team stands by him. He proposes to Joan, then, at their party, tells another teammate he’s actually gay.

Turing has a revelation not long after that when it comes to the machine, and he fixes it so that it can decode everything almost instantly. With this power they have to make a decision about who lives and dies, and despite knowing some will be attacked, they have to let them go.

Turing also realizes that one of his teammates is spying for the Soviets, and is blackmailed with his sexuality in order to keep quiet. When brought in to talk to an agent, Turing discovers they already knew that his teammates, Cairncross, is spying, and they feed him certain messages.

He then tells Joan about his homosexuality, and she takes it graciously until he tells her he never cared for her, which is probably the most terrible thing he could’ve done. They continued doing their work, and, at the end of the war, all of team members are told to destroy their work. They are never to see each other again.

Years later, in 1952, Turing is charged for homosexuality, and is chemically castrated. Joan visits him as he falls apart, and he kills himself less than two years later. The epilogue tells us Queen Elizabeth II pardoned him in 2013, as his work led to the modern computer.

Overall Thoughts

Although I’m not the biggest Benedict Cumberbatch fan, I will admit this is one of his finer works. The acting in this movie overall is pretty stellar, making it a standout from the early 2010s if you ask me.

Despite that, I think this is such an important movie to have out in the world. Turing was basically betrayed by his government for his sexuality, despite being a hero in the midst of World War II. But because this was classified information, he lived a life without that acknowledgement.

Certainly, though, the movie doesn’t depict him in a flattering manner in how he treated Joan. I want to dig deeper into this and see what the truth of their relationship was, as I got the sense this was for dramatic effect at times.

All in all, I’m glad I watched this movie all those years ago on a whim. I’d say it was worth it!

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