Before the invention of the computer there was Alan Turing, the math genius who helped win World War II.
Turing was leader of a team that broke the back of the German code machine named Enigma by building his own machine that spoke the same language and allowed the Allies to learn Nazi battle plans.
The title of “The Imitation Game,” the new film about his life and work, refers to whether one can tell if responses to questions are generated by a man or machine.
But it also refers to a deception Turing embodied.
He was a homosexual at a time when being one was a illegal. The only thing worse was spying for the Soviet Union which had infiltrated British government and intelligence agencies. Turing’s standoffish and arrogant personality and his sense of always being right trumped social niceties and made him a suspect to his co-workers and superiors.
He was similarly ostracized at boarding school where he used code to communicate with a fellow classmate whom he loved. He even named his machine after him.
Today Turing, played with a Spock like obstinacy by Benedict Cumberbatch, might be diagnosed with the high functioning autism we sometimes associate with prodigies or geniuses, such as the character Sheldon on “The Big Bang Theory.” His only relationship at Blechtley Park, where the British worked on breaking the code, was a female cryptanalyst played by Keira Knighley. She was recruited after solving an impossible crossword puzzle Turing designed and to whom he became briefly engaged as a way to keep her parents happy. The film is told in three parts: his school days; his work at Bletchley; and his arrest after the war for indecent behavior. He committed suicide in 1954.
The Guardian newspaper has called inaccuracies in the film’s portrayal of Turing and the events chronicled to slander. The narrative arc does feel overly familiar but in the end Cumberbatch’s awkward imitation captures this sad enigma.
Three stars
With Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, John Cairncross, Charles Dance, Mark Strong. Produced by Nora Grossman, Io Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman. Written by Graham Moore. Directed by Morten Tyldum. Rated PG-13 sexual references, mature content. Approximate running time: 114 minutes.
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