The Imitation Game Analysis

The Imitation Game

Directed by: Morten Tyldum
Written by: Graham Moore

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch

This film is set during the 2nd world war, where the British govt. hire cryptographer Alan Turing to decrypt enemy's codes to win the war. This film seems like it's being dealt in a light tone, by the outlook - but the moral dilemmas that we see, the scenes where they have to choose who lives and who dies, it's so deep and dark. It gives us the essence of war. On the outlook, it feels like a popular popcorn entertainer, especially with the twists and turns, Benedict Cumberbatch being the star - but it definitely is more layered than that - it comes through in the writing. The scene where he tells his partner that he is homosexual, the way she reacts - it happens in a moment but what she says hits hard and makes us rethink about our idea of marriage and relationships.

The editing and the tone of the film doesn't represent the time period that the film is set in, it is responsive like a film set in the modern world where people interrupt and the dialogue overlaps a lot too. The color, sound, costumes and production are the ones which take us into that era. The fact that Alan Turing committed suicide, it's heart breaking - but the film doesn't use the opportunity to dramatise this - because you really don't know what he was going through and there is also some sort of mystery to it which they weren't interested in exploring - because this film is about celebrating the acheievements of Alan Turing. I think the text that he committed suicide is more impactful and dramatic than how a scene would have been, because now - it's upto our imagination.

The storytelling device of cutting back and forth in multiple timelines is very interesting - this device, if used well can almost control the emotional response of the audience. I read about a lot of historical inaccuracies, but to celebrate a person's work - a lot of their greatness gets lost in documentation, transfer of knowledge and hence we can be sure that their greatness is definitely beyond whatever that we know of them - so I think in an effort to celebrate a person, we can take some liberties to present their story, unless of course they make it unconvincing for us to believe. At the end, it's a film and not a documentary - it's a dramatized version - to make us feel and not just know about Alan Turing.