The Imitation Game

What's in a name?  A lot, it would seem.  I, for one, kept shying away from seeing this movie because the title told me nothing...or maybe something....that did not really attract me.  The Imitation Game?  What imitation?  What game?  Huh?

Of course, the film got some buzz, so the word sort of got out that the movie had nothing to do with any imitation game of any kind.  It had to do with the guy who invented computers.  Even that does not seem so enticing.  We all know that someone way back when invented computers...so?

Okay, this review starts with a strong negative. The title is misleading and dumb.  But the film isn't.

What's it really about?  No spoiler here, but I'll give a few clues.  Go back to WWII, when the Germans used codes to communicate their military positions.  Now consider that the Germans had a very complex coding system that the allies could not break.

Enter Alan Turing.  He is a math whiz.  A very eccentric professor.  England calls upon him to break the German codes.  How does do so?  With the world's first computer, that he invented.

Back to the title:  If the film had been called "The Turing Machine" my curiosity would have been piqued.  Actually, that is how the world referred to computers for many years until the word "computer" became more popular.

This is a very tense film.  Will Mr. Turing, the extremely weird professor, figure out the code?  Every day that he tries and fails more soldiers are dying on the battle fields.  How can the ragtag team of scholars he has assembled help him save the world?

Good stuff!

What makes the film fun is not only watching a mad genius at work, but trying to figure out how the social outcast can find success among military men who don't quite understand his style!  There's more:  The professor is gay at a time when gays were shunned and blackmailed.

Turing is brilliantly played by Benedict Cumberbatch.  If you can't pronounce his name, that is because you have probably never heard it mentioned before.  The actor somehow emerged from bit roles in prior movies (Star Trek into Darkness, The Hobbit, Atonement) and landed this very important lead role.

Kiera Knightley is equally as good as the sole female on the code-breaking team.  She got her start as a twelve year old in Bend it Like Beckham and is now an A-List British actress.

Bottom line:  Ignore the silly title and watch this film on Netflix.  It is a winner.  You will be entranced by the odd man who invented today's computers and helped England win the war.