The Imitation Game
starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightly, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Charles Dance and Mark Strong
written by Graham Moore
directed by Morten Tyldum
Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
Based on the book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, the story of Alan Turing is not just the story of the decryption of the Enigma machine. It is the story of the birth of modern mechanical computing. If you listen to some people, a lot of people, you might believe that Turning’s story is the tale of a persecuted genius who happened to be gay. Or, the story of a gay man who happened to be a genius. Gay rights are the issue of the moment in our world. And redressing the wrongs of victimization in a self-promoting, affirmation-seeking culture is the world we live in. In our high school science classes we are taught that Galileo Galilei was meanly persecuted by the Church because of his science. Well, the stories of Galileo’s and Turing’s persecutions are not wrong. What you are not taught in school is that these men contributed to their own persecution by being intolerable assholes.
Redressing the wrongs of victimization in a self-promoting, affirmation-seeking culture is the world we live in.
I think the coolest thing about the Enigma machine is that the Germans called it “The Enigma.” That’s a cool name.
Some Japanese I know saw the film in the movie theaters months ago and talked about it with me.
“Do you know the movie Imitation Game?”
“Oh, you mean the story of Alan Turning at Bletchley Park and the Enigma Machine?”
They were surprised I knew so much. I was surprised they knew so little because I thought the story of Bletchley Park, Alan Turing, even William Stephenson, the man called Intrepid himself, was all public knowledge. But I have learned that I have a very broad idea of what constitutes public knowledge, and most people are imbeciles.