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.

Doctor Zhivago - review

Omar Sharif stars as Yuri Zhivago, a young doctor and poet who falls in love with a nurse volunteer, Lara despite having a wife and child living in Russia during political conflict and war.

With Yuri’s story told through the memories of his older and estranged brother Yevgraf as he searches for his niece, we see the social and economic divide between Russians during the war. As the rich carry on with life as usual, the poor suffer the harsh winter and we learn how in times of conflict and hardship, there is still room for love to 

blossom.

I’ve always known about this movie, mainly the fact that it’s over 3 hours long and set in Russia, but apart from that I didn’t and still don’t know anything about it.

I wouldn’t say I enjoyed the movie as I felt I needed a history degree to know what was going on, but reading between the lines and watching it without trying to concentrate on the politics; I discovered it’s essentially a love story which knows no boundaries.

Thankfully I watched this movie with a cup of tea in hand as most of it featured heavy and very cold looking snow and although it didn’t have anything to do with Christmas, just the sight of snow made me ready for the Christmas season.

The Terminal - review

When Victor Navorski (Tom Hanks) lands at JFK airport in New York he is informed that during his flight, his home country of Krakozhia has gone to war meaning that his passport and visa are no longer recognised by the United States of America.

Informed that he can’t enter New York without being arrested or return home, Victor is forced to stay in the Airport under the watchful eye of Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci), the airport manager.

While Victor struggles to come to terms with the destruction of his country, he begins to settle in at the terminal and spends his days helping out by collecting trolleys in order to get money for food and making friends with the staff at the airport.

During his stay at the airport, Victor also becomes close to Amelia (Catherine Zeta Jones), an air hostess who frequently travels through the airport to meet her lover and arranges to meet up with her every time she travels.

With Victor now becoming used to his situation and the staff warming to him, Frank becomes bored with his antics and determined to get a promotion tries to persuade him to leave the airport which will result in his arrest. But with the support of friends Victor is determined to wait it out until the war is Krakozhia finally comes to an end and the doors to New York are opened to him.

I wasn’t completely sold on this movie, but determined to give any movie a try, I stuck with it and ended up really enjoying it. I had no idea how it would end and have to admit that I became close to tears when it did.

The Terminal is a sweet tale of how when faced with adversity, a little hard work and help from friends can make all the difference.

Enid - review

A fantastic biopic of the world’s most successful children’s author Enid Blyton.

Enid is portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter in a tale which shows us the family side of Enid and how she struggled to get accepted by publishers at the start of her career.

When Enid’s father leaves the family while she is still young, Enid struggles to believe her father would leave her, but as soon as she’s old enough she too leaves the family home in order to train as a teacher.

In an attempt to get her love of writing noticed, she approaches publishers with her short stories and poems, but receives countless rejection letters, until Hugh Pollock takes an interest.

With a contract signed, Enid and Hugh become close and later marry, but with a happy marriage and a career on the up, there is something missing for Enid – children. As the couple struggle to conceive Enid is concerned that her wish won’t come true, but when she successfully becomes mother to Gillian she has no patience to deal with a baby, preferring to hire a nanny instead and devote her time to the characters she lovingly created.

A few years later and after the birth of Enid’s second daughter Imogen, Enid’s marriage is crumbling and with more time spent on her books than her children, Gillian and Imogen are sent away to school so she can focus.

As war approaches, Hugh is recruited to help out and therefore leaves the family home, but while he’s away Enid is not short of male company and spends her time with troops and a new friend, Dr Kenneth Darrell Waters, a man she later went onto marry.

With Enid’s books proving popular and sales rocketing, she and Kenneth enjoy their life together, but when Enid is visited by her brother with the news that their mother has died, she begins to realise how much time she has been spending in an imaginary world instead of the real one.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of this film as I knew it was based on a real person whose books both my mum and I enjoyed through childhood, but I was surprised to learn how distant Enid was to her children even though her life was filled with creating a world for children to spend time in.

However, despite learning that Enid wasn’t as motherly as I had hoped and was also quite bitter towards her husband, my image of her hasn’t changed and has made me more determined to become a children’s writer – though I can only dream of the success Enid achieved.