Movie Review: The Imitation Game

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch

                    Keira Knightley

                    Matthew Goode

                    Mark Strong
                    Charles Dance
                    Allen Leech
                    Matthew Beard
                    Rory Kinnear

Directed by: Morten Tyldum

The Imitation Game is a movie based on life and work of Alan Turing, a man you would want to bow down to as the device you are reading this  post on is courtesy his life's work. He was a British Mathematician, Cyptologist and one of the most important researchers involved in development of Computers. He is infact referred to as both father of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. The film begins with Alan Turing being recruited into the British Intelligence Agency MI6 that was trying to decode the codes by Enigma, the Nazi coder which was then considered unbreakable. The strategy was to decipher the code each day via human efforts. As the codes changed everyday it was impossible to do so without artificial intelligence and Turing was quick to realise it. Therefore inspite of following his colleagues into a dark tunnel where a faint beam might appear someday, he decides to use his imagination into developing algorithm and computation for the first time. 

The road is not easy and he is met with all odds but he does manage to get the funding. He builds it but it doesn't work in one go, when do experiments anyway? The trouble shooting, the failure, the time line crunch, the suspicion of being a spy and above all being a homosexual which was considered an offence then. The movie has amplitudes of inspiration as Turing sits endlessly by his machine waiting for it to work, his belief against odds in his work, living physically till the end with his machine and taking in everything, even hormonal therapy as instructed by the law just to be with his machine will give one a feel of what it is to have a purpose and love it till the end. A life of a real scientist has always been of hardship and this movie gives you a full zoom into Turing's emotions for his work and pain. There is also a hint of friendship and love, albeit of a different kind, though a kind that is a boon for the soul born for a purpose. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the most convincing Alan Turing. His work on his speech for the role is commendable. 

The movie is based on a book "Alan Turing : An Enigma" by Andrew Hodges. His code breaking machine named "Christopher" by him and more popularly known as "The Turing Machine" saved about 14 million lives and helped the allied win World War II. The machine and the mission was kept a secret and hence Turing never was celebrated in his lifetime. He however was sent to prison for being gay, one of the worst ever treatments to the best minds. The movie will make one think a lot on these lines as well. 

If you need the inspiration that you have been lacking, especially scientists. go watch this movie. 

"Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine"