It’s Oscar season so all the cinema heavy hitters are coming out. We just had Birdman and now it’s The Imitation Game. Based on the 'true story" of one Alan Turing as captured by Andrew Hodges' biography, we see the Hollywood version of how the Nazi’s Enigma code was cracked - but is it any good? Let’s dig in.
Benedict Cumberbatch - he who played Khan in the last year's Star Trek Into Darkness and Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series - is busy carving a name for himself in Hollywood. The Imitation Game will surely do for his career what Ray did for Jamie Foxx - proof he has a wealth of bonafide acting talent. Cumberbatch’s performance is nuanced, well crafted and at the heart of The Imitation Game.
Cumberbatch is supported by an all star British cast that includes Charles Dance aka Tywin Lannister of Game of Thrones, Keira Knightly and Mark Strong just to mention a few. Who do an incredibly good job. For all the thriller elements and high stakes drama inherent in the film, I really relished the dry English humour peppered out in the film. Charles Dance has a lot of cool Tywin-like quips and he also suffers from them.
This story could have just been about an awkward genius who has to learn to work with others but it becomes a tragic story about state sanctioned oppression. An ugly chapter in British history is revisited through this movie - one that we don’t see a lot. How Britain once outlawed homosexuality. To go as far as to chemically castrate offenders or make them prison citizens.
So the Imitation Game has the drama, the suspense, the wit, the life affirming mottos about individuals but also the cautionary tale about how groups and societies work. So the film has everything for everyone and lessons that people who live in the 21
st century still battle with just like in the 1940’s.
Although history teaches us that the Polish had a great role to play in the breaking of the Enigma code, which this movie does not recognise or showcase, but that's Hollywood for you. That's the only bad mark against the film but other than that, do yourself a favour and check this one out.
Rating ****
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index
* Junk **Almost bearable ***Now we cooking **** Almost perfect ***** Classic
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