DVR Rewind: The Imitation Game

Dr. Strange’s Benedict Cumberbatch plays the part of an awkward genius tasked with the impossible chore of cracking an unbreakable code. His real-life character, William Pitt the Younger, in Amazing Grace, noted that he was too young to know what he “couldn’t achieve”, whereas The Imitation Game’s real-life character Alan Turing was too tortured emotionally to allow intellectual failure.

Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice) plays Joan Clarke, the woman who proves Turing’s intellectual match or superior, who is sadly barred from aiding him in his mission solely due to being of the fair-sex. She wants to work with him because their minds think alike, but she is also frustrated on a personal level due to fallout from Turing’s traumatic childhood.

Charles Dance (The Jewel in the Crown) plays gruff Commander Denniston, who hires Turing and then tries to fire him when Turing seems to have lost his mental compass. Matthew Goode (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society), Allen Leech (Downton Abbey), and Matthew Beard perform well as Turing’s colleagues, frustrated in turn that their top-notch minds can’t hold a candle to his relentless if inconsiderate brilliance.

Mark Strong (Kingsman: The Secret Service) is MI6 agent Stewart Menzies, playing all sides of the puzzle – on England’s side – but shrewd and deceptive, foiling even Turing, as Strong’s EQ seems to rank parallel to his IQ. Turing’s IQ might only be exceeded by Joan, but his EQ is evidenced by his social blunders.

Since you may not be familiar with the story, I’m not going to spoil it here. I just wanted to provide some of the puzzle pieces. You can see the movie and put them together if you choose. It’s not the most cheerful tale, but it is a story that deserves to be told.

-FitzGerald Press

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