The Imitation Game (2014) - Film Review

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode & Rory Kinnear

Screenplay: Graham Moore

Directed By: Morten Tyldum

Certificate: 12

 

The Imitation Game, adapted from Andrew Hodges' book Alan Turing: The Enigma, marks screenwriter Graham Moore's first feature-length film. For his work as writer, Graham Moore took home the Oscar for best adapted screenplay at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015. All I can say is … damn, that's something to be proud of, and I can only imagine how many people would strive for that kind of success on their first work in the film industry. So with a first-time screenwriter delivering an Oscar award-winning script, how well does The Imitation Game hold up?

 

The film retells the life of mathematician and cryptographer Alan Turing, and his immense contributions to the Allied efforts of WWII. Following his days from a schoolboy to his death at the age of forty-one, The Imitation Game explores how he and his fellow cryptographers managed to break the German enigma code, ultimately shortening WWII by more than two years and saving over fourteen million lives. We also see how a man with such genius struggled to connect with those around him, and despite his heroic work, had to take the knowledge of his contributions to the grave.

 

Despite being set during the Second World War, The Imitation Game bends the conventions of the war genre to deliver quite a different war film. Rather than depicting the more cinematic and dramatic events of the battlefield, in lieu of epics such as Saving Private Ryan, this film instead focuses on the home front and on another traumatic type of story – the inner struggle and conflicts of one of the most important men in WWII. Yes, we get the occasional glimpses of the physical conflict, but nothing that reaches a total of more than a couple of minutes. But even without the battles to support itself, there's still an engaging and flowing narrative that always keeps moving at a brisk pace to reach a truly devastating conclusion. The biggest risk about trying to depict the work of Bletchley Park's cryptographers was having to keep their repetitive, and for a long time hopeless efforts of trying to break the secret German code, an interesting watch. But thanks to Graham Moore's impeccable script, their efforts are instead thrilling and seeing Alan having to spend a lot of time alone whilst working on his code-breaking machine, Christopher, raises the stakes even higher. The script constantly feels fresh, and this is largely down to its structure. Rather than exploring the life of Alan Turing in a chronological order, it's broken down into three sections – his school life, his days in WWII and the last few days of his life – and each of these sections intercut and overlap with one another.

 

Make no mistake, the story of Alan Turing is not a happy one, and during his life, he never got the recognition and awareness he deserved, instead being shunned by almost everyone around him. However, his story is still one that needs to be told and The Imitation Game deserves a lot of praise just for bringing his story to a wider audience, and for highlighting the terrible injustices he and thousands of other gay men suffered. Now I'm aware that I may be making this film out to be nothing but two hours of doom and gloom, but while it is tragic, it's worth pointing out that isn't depressing at all. There are moments throughout the film that will still raise a smile, such as the quite sweet relationship between Alan and Christopher during Turing's schooldays, or the moment of celebration when the codebreakers finally crack enigma. Moments like this provide the viewer with a moment of respite before each thread of the film reaches its terrible conclusion, though I won't spoil everything that happens.

 

It's not just on a writing level that The Imitation Game works so well, as it also boasts Benedict Cumberbatch's best performance to date of his already impeccable career. His role as Alan Turing even led him to being nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, alongside Eddie Redmayne's work in The Theory Of Everything. While the award eventually went to Eddie Redmayne, it's not hard to see why the race was so tight between the two. Benedict Cumberbatch truly loses himself in the role of Alan Turing, to the point where you know you're not watching him on screen, but are watching a brilliant yet socially awkward man who's contributions to the world cannot be denied. Thanks to everything from the way he holds himself to his stammer, Alan Turing is brought to life on the big screen. The character is fleshed out terrifically thanks to plenty of small subtle moments sprinkled throughout the film, that show how Alan tries his best to fit in, even trying to tell his fellow workers a joke and providing them with lunch. This is show again towards the end of the film, in one of the most poignant and heartbreaking moments where he breaks down to Joan, crying “I don't want to be alone.”

 

While The Imitation Game obviously sets out to tell the story of Alan Turing, let's not forget the strong supporting cast we have here. It can be argued that they may be overshadowed by Benedict Cumberbatch's amazing performance, but characters like Joan Clarke leave an impression thanks to Keira Knightley's performance. Her character also makes for an interesting parallel to Alan as someone who can't seem to be taken seriously in 1940s Britain, and despite the fact she can easily match the abilities of the male cryptographers, she is constantly living in their shadow because of her gender – something we see in her very first scene. The remaining cryptographers round off a great array of supporting characters, as does Charles Dance as the intimidating Commander Alastair Denniston, and Rory Kinnear as Detective Nock in the 1950s segments. The performances of everyone involved in the scenes set during Alan's schooldays deserve special mention, particularly that of Alex Lawther as the young Alan, who gives us a quietly powerful and very memorable performance, particularly in his last scene.

 

From a production point of view, The Imitation Game certainly holds up and captures the WWII spirit. For some reason, one of the strengths of the British film industry seems to be producing really good-looking films set during the first half of the 20th Century, and The Imitation Game is no exception. Everything here is on point, from the atmospheric lighting, authentic costume design and set design entirely faithful to the time period. Even the brief moments of WWII fighting that we get to see are brilliant and the use of make-up is great as well, being most effective during Alan's final days, as we start to see a weary man, his eyes red and his skin pale. While the look of the film is praiseworthy beyond doubt, the film has come under a certain amount of criticism concerning its historical accuracy and depiction of several things. Some of the most common criticisms I've seen include the casting of Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke, even though the real Joan was described as “plain”, that the relationship between Alan and Joan has been overly exaggerated and romanticized, or that Alan's social awkwardness has been exaggerated too much and to the point of having Asperger's syndrome. While I can understand where these complaints are coming from, I personally don't take issue with it. It's important to remember that this is a dramatised biopic of the life of Alan Turing and that creative liberties are going to be taken. If you're looking for accuracy, then a documentary might be more suitable, but when it comes to providing a film with dramatic elements, recreating that person's life by the numbers tremendously restricts the creative abilities of the writer.

 

At the end of the day, it's not hard to see why The Imitation Game received so many awards nominations at so many different film festivals – everything works here. The Imitation Game is a perfect marriage between three of the most important things a film needs – great writing, great performances and great production design. With Graham Moore striking absolute gold in his first feature-length screenplay, Benedict Cumberbatch giving the performance of his career and some top-class production design, The Imitation Game is definitely worth watching, and does justice to one of the most important people of the 20th Century.

The Imitation Game



10/10