The Imitation Game

#9 - The Imitation Game

It's been a busy few months for Benedict Cumberbatch.

He's been attending London premières for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, it's been announced that he will star as the Marvel superhero Doctor Strange next year, and he has graced Time magazine on their annual "genius" issue.  Not bad for a man often compared to otter pictures.

However it has been his portrayal as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game that was the reason behind his Time magazine cover.  Not only that, but he has been gaining Cumber-batches of rave reviews and whispers of Oscar nominations, and rightfully so.

The Imitation Game tells the true story of English mathematician Alan Turing, and his attempts to crack the unsolvable German Enigma code during the Second World War, alongside a team of code-breakers at Bletchley Park.   The film interweaves Turing's childhood at a private boarding school where he first discovers his passion for puzzle-solving, with his most important years at Bletchley Park, as well as the tragedy of his post-war decline surrounding his sexuality.

All the support behind Cumberbatch is incredibly deserved.  His performance as Turing is so chameleonic and passionate throughout, Cumberbatch thoroughly inhabits the role and accentuates all the man's flaws and weaknesses, but also his admirable strengths.  The closest I could compare his portrayal to would be The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons.  Both characters have genius-level intellects but their closest friends suffer and endure their Asperger-like personalities, in order to help further the greater good of potentially helping mankind.

The true story told in The Imitation Game is one that is sorely needed in today's society.  Despite Turing's social flaws there was a brilliant mathematician that needed to grow and test his theories without restrictions.  He was a man who harboured secrets about his lifestyle, and because of laws at the time, he was treated as a criminal instead of a true life-saving hero.  It should definitely speak to our current generation about the differences in our culture today and how unfairly Turing was treated in the post-war decades.

However, Turing found support in fellow code-breakers such as Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode) and Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), who tolerated Turing's unique methods and soon became his closest companions.  Both Goode and Knightley are utilised well as the (pardon the pun) 'straight man' to Turing's eccentricities and absurdities, with Goode especially showing the kind of calm demeanour that thoroughly impressed me in my favourite film of last year, Stoker.

A fantastic war film, focussing on the behind-the-scenes fighting that happened during the Second World War, and showing not all the important actions took place on the battlefield.  Cumberbatch is a certainty for a Best Actor nomination at this years Academy Awards and rightfully so.

Please try and see this before it disappears from your local cinema.

I couldn't resist posting at least one...

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

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