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Film review: Academy Award Winner "The Imitation Game"

Posted: Tuesday, March 10, 2015 12:00 pm

Evan Magura Staff Reporter | 0 comments

The 2015 Academy Award winner for best adapted screenplay “The Imitation Game” tells the story of a misunderstood man who helped to defeat Nazi Germany through the power of his intelligence.

The film “The Imitation Game,” is based on the biographical novel “Alan Turing: The Enigma” by Andrew Hodges. The film, set in three alternating time periods in Britain during the 20th century, tells the story about British mathematician Alan Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Turing and others develop a machine to decipher the Nazis’ Enigma machine, used to transmit coded messages written by the Nazis. Turing and his team decipher the Nazis’ coded messages and begin to slowly turn the tide of the war in the Allies favor.

Through the use of flashbacks, the audience sees Turing as a tortured adolescent at school in 1928. He is bullied by his fellow classmates. His homosexuality is first alluded to through his relationship with his classmate Christopher. The relationship between Alan and Christopher eventually transitions from romantic to tragic.

Turing’s homosexuality is another subplot of the film. Homosexuality was illegal during the 1905s, the setting of the movie. In the film, Turing was convicted of indecency for soliciting another man for sexual favors. Turing’s punishment was either imprisonment or chemical castration. While not shown explicitly, the film does mention that Turing did receive government-mandated hormonal therapy for one year.

The film does show how important Turing was in defeating Nazi Germany. Text at the film’s conclusion states that deciphering the Enigma machine was instrumental in shortening the war by two years. The film’s conclusion also states that over 14 million lives were saved because of the work done by Turing and his team.

Text at the end of the film shows the improvements of how homosexual people are treated in Great Britain. The film states that Queen Elizabeth II awarded Turing with a posthumous award acknowledging his achievements.

The theme of sacrifice is one of the movie’s strengths. In the film, after the team breaks the Nazi code, the team decides not to tell the British military. The team agrees the Nazis cannot know their machine was deciphered. Turing and his team recognize not every soldier can be saved. The idea was that there are times when few need to be sacrificed in order for many to live.

A second strength of the film is the theme that geniuses are often misunderstood. The film does illustrate this point throughout the film. When the film transitions to 1928, Turing’s friend Christopher tells him the reason their classmates attack Turing is because “they only beat you up because you are different”.  It is unclear if “different” is in reference to Turing’s homosexuality at that age or because of his social awkwardness.  

This theme is further shown in scenes with adult Turing. While he designs the machine, he is shown being initially unable to establish relationships with his coworkers. Turing attempts to make jokes. He eventually establish relationships with his coworkers, but it is evident by the end of the film that Turing never outgrew his social awkwardness.

The film’s use of transitioning from one period in time to another can frustrate the audience. The film begins in Britain in 1951 then alternates from 1928 to 1939. Perhaps that was an intentional decision by the director to make the film appear jumbled, similarly to a puzzle, which early in the film, Turing says that he is “good at them”.

A second fault in the film is the relationship between Cumberbatch’s Turing and Keira Knightley’s character Joan Clarke. The relationship felt undeveloped and rushed.  The relationship was undeveloped because not enough time was spent in showing the relationship between the two characters. Their relationship felt rushed because in the few scenes that do show the relationship are quick and often overshadowed by the larger plot: the building of the machine to decipher the Nazis’ machine.

According to the website Box Office Mojo, “The Imitation Game” has currently grossed over $180 million worldwide. The film is playing at local movie theatres such as Celebration Cinemas Crossroads & IMAX in Portage, Michigan and at the Alamo Drafthouse in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

http://www.westernherald.com/arts_and_entertainment/article_98c3218a-c295-11e4-b826-2f199b9adf5c.html

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-The Imitation Game

   WHEN-not given

   WHAT-The 2015 Academy Award winner for best adapted screenplay

   WHY-not given

   WHERE-not given

   HOW-the story of a misunderstood man who helped to defeat Nazi Germany

Keywords：

         1. screenplay：劇本

   2.biographical ：傳記

   3.decipher：解碼

   4.flashbacks：倒敘

   5.allude：暗示

   6.subplot ：插曲

   7.indecency：猥褻

   8.castration：閹割

    9. explicitly：明確地

    10. agrees：同意

    11.awkwardness：尷尬
   12.overshadowed ：黯然失色