The Imitation Game - review

The Imitation Game tells the story of Alan Turing, a mathematical genius who helped bring out about the end of World War Two by breaking the German Enigma code, but who sadly committed suicide at the age of 41 due to prosecution for being homosexual.

Known as a maths prodigy while at school and secretly in love with his best friend Christopher, Alan is recruited by the secret service when he impresses bosses with his knowledge of codes and maths. But when he’s required to work as part of a team with other code breakers, Alan struggles and much preferring to work alone aims to build a machine which will read all the settings of the Enigma machine quicker than a human brain.

As he alienates himself from those around him, but eventually wins the backing of Prime Minister Winston Churchill to carry on with building his machine, Alan creates a crack team of code breakers – including Joan Clark, the only woman in the park not working in the communication hut – and with dedication and logic, they all pull together and eventually manage to break the code.

However, with a Soviet Spy among them, they are unable to let anyone know of their achievement for fear of the Germans changing their practice and plans and so are forced to keep the secret to themselves for a further 2 years while continuing to help aid the battle against the enemy.

When the war is won, the team of code breakers are released from their positions and allowed back into normal life with the order not to reveal their role during the war. But as Alan adjusts to life outside of Bletchley Park, he keeps another secret hidden, one which could land him in jail if discovered – his sexuality.

A number of years later when Alan is burgled but nothing is stolen, the police feel he is hiding something and when they discover his sexual orientation he is prosecuted even after the investigating officer discovers Alan role during the war.

Choosing chemical castration over prison, Alan is visited by Joan – the lady he proposed to in an attempt to keep her at Bletchley Park and also to hide his homosexuality – one of the people aware of his secret and she’s shocked when she learns what he has been going through. But despite her friendship and love of his work, one year after starting hormone therapy, Alan sadly commits suicide at the young age of 41.

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan and Keira Knightly as Joan Clark, I found this movie a good insight into how code breakers helped end the war, which also highlights how sexual orientation was viewed years ago.

Learning that despite his efforts during the war, Alan ended his life due to something which nowadays is much more accepted, made me sad and makes you wonder if he had continued to live how else he could have influenced the world.

I would definitely recommend this movie and having now seen it and also researched the real Alan Turing, I will also be visiting the real Bletchley Park.