“Sometimes it’s the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.”
-Multiple characters in Imitation Game
Sometimes the best measurement of a movie for me (especially when watching at home) is not just whether I can get through it in one setting but whether or not I’m bored. I have to say not only was I not bored I really enjoyed the movie and though I rented it I’d definitely consider buying it and adding it to my collection.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing who during World War II helps to break the German enigma code. Turing is brilliant and troubled. He has a hard time getting along with people and sometimes he’s just downright mean and doesn’t really care. The cast includes Kiera Knightley, Matthew Goode and Mark Strong. The movie does jump around in time from Turing’s arrest in the early 1950’s, to the World War II stuff, to his school days but it’s never hard to follow.
Beware of some early bullying scenes at the school one of which just happened to play into one of my greatest fears and seriously made me want to pull the covers up over my head.
If you compare this movie to the Theory of Everything (which I totally did) it benefits from a bigger story concerning the war of course. I also think that Cumberbatch did a really good job of making you feel for Turing even in some of his most obnoxious moments. Although I have to admit that knowing what happens to him and what happened to him in school went a long way toward that as well. I really liked Goode’s character too. He could have been a jerk. He could have held a lot of things against Turing but he sucked it up and moved on for the greater good. Kiera Knightley could have been used more but I think my favorite scene of hers was when she tells him he doesn’t need to be a conventional husband because she doesn’t want to be a conventional wife.
Honestly, it was also marks in the Turing’s favor (for me) that he saw potential in her and didn’t let her get pushed aside just because she was a woman.
There’s some interesting stuff in this movie especially the second half after they break the code and some serious questions and moral decisions are addressed that are both harsh and heartbreaking. But it did make me wonder what I would do in that situation. I admit to that the movie got tears out of me in the end.
Recommend: I would. Of all the Academy Award movies I’ve caught up on this is the one I enjoyed the most.