The story of Turing's life is as complex as the man himself, with many layers. The film looks at three keys areas. His work at Bletchley Park, his arrest for indecency and his schoolboy days. All of which are based on the biography from Andrew Hodge. For me the section that provides the greatest insight into Turing are the school days, where we find he is bullied and attacked for being different, and a loner. He strikes up a friendship with Christopher Morcom, and it is when that friendship starts to blossom, that Turing finds his world shattered, and his loss is tremendous.
We see Turing apply for work at Bletchley, treating his superiors at times as far lesser men, even high ranking officials. We see the team struggle in their battle to crack the Enigma machine codes, the desperation as War raged on, and more lives were lost. The majority of the team firmly believe that Turing is wasting valuable time and resources with his work on the machine to crack the machine. But in his mind, it is a simple matter of logic, that a mind cannot beat a machine, only another machine can. It is a remarkable journey we see them on. The elation we see them feel as they realise that they have done the near impossible is soon shattered with the stark truth that they cannot reveal what they know. Despite parts of the British military being attacked they cannot warn them else it would give the game away, the machine coding would be changed and all their years of hard work would be for nothing.
His relationship with fellow worker Joan Clarke is examined, as we see his friendship with her take a more marital status, as he asks her to marry him, trying to cover up his homosexuality.
But it is his treatment as a result of his arrest that provokes the most anger. One really has to ask that was being gay back in the 1950's so abhorent that this could not have been swept under the carpet? Given what Turing and the others did in Bletchley, surely given the countless lives he saved by ending the war early must have counted for something. But ultimately not. Being gay was the lowest of the low, to love or feel affection for another man was so bad. The British nation treated Turing in a truly terrible way, to give him the choice of medical castration or prison, it was not much of a choice.
The poster for the film is very truthful in that Benedict Cumberbatch really is outstanding as Turing. A complex man brought to life with a complex but engaging performance from one of our top actors. If nothing else, it would be nice to think that a new young audience will see the film just because he is in it, and if it gets across to them how great a man Turing was, then it will be a job well done.
Keira Knightley is good as Joan Clarke, as is Charles Dance as Turing's military top ranking officer at Bletchley. All the cast are really good, but I have to give a special mention to Alex Lawther who plays Alan during his schoolboy days. It is a wonderful performance, with so many emotions to go through, but the most heartbreaking scenes are the ones where Turing finds out what has happened to Christopher Morcom. Very moving indeed. And also the same can be said of Cumberbatch as we near the films conclusion, and we see how close he is to his beloved machine, and the reason why, though this may be a touch of Hollywood rewriting.
As with all great films like this it just makes you want to find out more about the subject matter. But the downside is that if one were to read Hodges biography, I am sure that there would be a number of inaccuracies, and this could lead to one reassessing the film, which given how much one loved it, would not be best for the movie. I know that the film has been attacked by some, for its referencing that Turing was being investigated for possibly being a Russian Spy, and this was never the case. So it is a double edged sword, whether finding out more could depreciate ones enjoyment of the film.
But one thing is clear, as a stand alone film, it quite remarkable. An utterly compelling story of a man, who brought his life to an early end, despite all that he did for so many, and someone we owe so much to.
No imitation here, just a first class movie..........9 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment