English Literature - Film Review - The Imitation Game

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The historical content is interesting, as usual, the fact that it is based on the true story makes the film more moving in my opinion. It is an important period of history and it is our history. If it didn't happen, if Turing and his colleagues didn't crack Enigma, we probably wouldn't live in the same conditions and the same world as we do today. Breaking the Enigma was a substantial aid to the Allied war effort to win the Second World War and defeat the Nazis. By cracking the codes and breaking the Enigma, they were able to intercept all German communications and predict a lot of German offensives. The fact of knowing all positions of German ships or submarines could seem incredible but they used it really wisely because if they had used it anyhow, the Germans would have known that they had broken Enigma and changed every settings. They had to be discreet and that is what they did when they chose not to save Jack's brother from a ship attack in the Alantic.

That's a special way of fighting the ennemy and that is the link to the third theme.

The film is about the war, so of course there is a war-like atmosphere, but in this film no guns or blood are going to be seen. No battlefields nor afftrontments, no dead bodies nor awfull war images. Just a group of five geniuses, working far away from all the fights, trying to break an unbreakable machine. The narrative style is special, the film begins in medias res. While the screen is still black, Turing voices a demand that whoever’s out there concentrate on what he has to say. Nock ( a Manchester police detective played by Rory Kinnear) is the listener, and that story is being seen from his perspective. Turing is being charged with “gross indecency,” which is an alternative for homosexual acts that were punishable by imprisonment until the relevant 1885 law was repealed in 1967. They are several flashbacks throughout the film. Sometimes the story is set in Bletchley Park when Turing and his fellows are desesperately trying to break Enigma, and sometimes it is set into the police station during a questioning between Turing and Nock. A questionning that eventually turns in an existential question : « Am I a human or a machine ? ». Other flashbacks on Turing's life at school are used as well. With those points, it brings out to a general conclusion.

As a conclusion, The Imitation Game, directed by Morten Tyldum, was a pleasure to see, the actors are very well playing their roles, we feel their apprehension of failing their mission and their delight in succeeding it. This film is a mixture of historical content and social evolution of a man that was not appreciated and unloved by the society, seen through Turing's childhood falshbacks. This story is part of our history and we should all know about Turing's achievements and the most enjoyable way to become acquainted is surely to watch this film ! The next film I would like to watch is 12 Years a Slave which is really famous and renouned and that, in my opion, I ought