The Brits referred to the German encryption system as "Enigma." The system was used to direct German manpower, machinery and equipment all over the theater of battle, from the Russian front to the North Atlantic. As if the encryption wasn't hard enough for the Allies to decipher, what made the task nearly impossible was the German protocol of changing their codes every twenty-four hours. At the stroke of midnight, a new code would be employed, and the Allies would have to start all over again with the proverbial "blank sheet of paper."
Turing isn't on the job long before he is put in charge of the effort. He builds a machine, which he dubs "Christopher," that looks like a combination of an old telephone switchboard and an engineer's control panel in a recording studio. His hand-picked team includes Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), the only group member of the female persuasion. Joan is also the only member who can solve brain-teasing puzzles more quickly than Turing himself.
Turing is played by Benedict Cumberbatch who, according to many reports, is one of the two most loved young male stars in England, the other being Eddie Redmayne of Les Miserables fame. Turning is cerebral, introspective and driven, while at the same time displaying moments of wit, humor, kindness and abrasiveness. Cumberbatch is able to channel all of these characteristics, and more, quite convincingly throughout the story. Yes, Turing is a wonk, but a very interesting, complex wonk! Several of the scenes take us back to his days at Sherborne Preparatory School, where he first discovers his uncanny ability to crack (and write) codes and solve puzzles. It is also where his attraction to other males is manifested. The young actor who plays schoolboy Turing, Alex Lawther, is tremendously skilled. I found myself just as interested in what happens to young Turing as I was in what happens to him in adulthood. When a filmmakers's flashbacks are that compelling, the movie as a whole is almost always extremely good. The Imitation Game fits that description.
Turing is up against the clock in his quest to solve Enigma. Most of the pressure comes from Commander Denniston (Charles Dance), Turing's nominal supervisor, who reluctantly hired Turing but later sees his operation as a money pit with not a shred of hope of accomplishing its mission. Every time the calendar flips to another day, Enigma remains unsolved, the Germans change their encryption program, and more Brits become casualties of war. Luckily for Turing, he has the support of none other than Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself, who conveys that support through an intermediary, Stewart Menzies (Mark Strong), to whom Denniston reports.
The story is ultimately heartbreaking, but Norwegian director Morten Tyldum does mix in humorous moments. The funniest scene in the film occurs early on when Turing interviews with Denniston for the top secret job at the undercover operation fictionally labeled as "Bletchley Radio Manufacturing." To this point Denniston has interviewed and rejected dozens of mathematicians such as Turing, but what sets Turing apart is his uncanny ability to solve puzzles. Denniston almost throws Turing out of his office, due to the applicant's superiority complex which he barely tries to hide. The staccato back-and-forth combined with the facial expressions of Cumberbatch and Dance is acting at its finest.
It is not giving anything away to reveal (as I did in the first paragraph) that, eventually, Turing and his team accomplish their mission impossible. The manner in which they do it, if we can believe the relevant episode we witness on the screen, is ironically random. The person who unwittingly utters the words of revelation to Turing is totally unaware of the consequences. Even after the breakthrough, life and death dilemmas immediately face the Brits. How can they take advantage of cracking the Germans' code without having the Germans find out that they had, in fact, done so? The Brits need to play their cards close to the vest.
I typically do not care for movies in which computers play a central role in the story. (That's one reason I avoid NCIS and other television shows of its ilk; too many scenes with characters looking at a screen.) If you feel the same way, you may be disinclined to attend a movie about a guy who builds a contraption for the purpose of deciphering encrypted messages. I urge you to make an exception for The Imitation Game. "Christopher" is key to the story, but not to the point where "he" becomes a character.
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