My first thought is the film’s title reminds me of a title
for a blog post I might have written and then could not, from its title,
determine what it was about. (Which
brings to mind the curmudgeonly comedian W.C. Fields who, terrified of ever being
without funds wherever he was, opened dozens of bank accounts across the
country under a series of fictitious names – such as Larson E. Whipsnade or
Mahatma Kane Jeeves – and then later entirely forgot what those fictitious names
were.)
My second impression was that I loved The Imitation Game for an hour, before it lost steam and
deteriorated into the predictable. And
then Dr. M pointed out… wait!
The most important point by far is that we watched The
Imitation Game in our bedroom because I had finally learned how to work the
DVD player!
And it only took ten
years!
I can’t believe I almost forgot about that. It’s amazing.
I master a formerly impenetrable gizmo and five minutes later, I’m blasé!
Allow me to celebrate for a moment.
Wahoo!
Thank you.
Okay, moving on…
The Imitation Game is
a “biopic” – meaning a cinematorial depiction of an actual person – in this case an English genius named Alan
Turing who spearheaded the breaking of the German message-encrypting code
during World War II which contributed
greatly to our winning the war – in which a permissible “artistic license” allows
the writer to include virtually anything they want, the result being a movie
that’s like,
“It happened, but…not that
part.”
a genre I am not entirely comfortable with. I read somewhere about a college professor
who taught “Creative Non-Fiction” and my head started to spin. What exactly is that?
“It’s historically accurate.
But we change things.”
Huh?
Anyway, there’s that.
A sporadically accurate movie, concerning a brilliant man who cracked
the German code during World War II,
who was later required to undergo chemical… treatment to subdue his homosexual
proclivities in lieu of prison, being as how same sex interaction in England at
that time was prohibitively against the law.
There was also the indication that had his proclivitorial
secret been exposed while he was immersed in his code-breaking activities,
Turing would have been summarily removed from the project, the code might never
have been broken, and the Germans
might have won World War II. Which, it goes without saying, would not have
been good.
A lawbreaker of a statute later expunged from the Penal Code
makes an irreplaceable contribution to help the “Good Guys” to prevail.
Why are we giving
him a hard time?
Making a “biopic” requires the application of a predicable
constructional grid, thus homogenizing a real but factually “messy” occurrence
into “Familiar Territory”, complete with assiduous time-juggling, fabricated
conflicts and intensified relationships.
Venn Diagram: “‘Biopics’
manipulate reality.” “The Imitation Game is a ‘biopic.’’’ “The
Imitation Game manipulates reality.”
It has no choice.
So there’s that.
Why then did I, for at least the first hour, enjoy the
movie?
An interesting and important story. Restrained screenwriting. And an electrifying starring performance by
Benedict Cumberbatch. (Plus, it’s
English. I am always a sucker for a
really green lawn.)
Even though the storytelling ultimately surrenders to the
tried-and-true trajectory, it generally does so in an intelligent, believable and
original manner.
Aaron Sorkin without the wiseass.
And no “Tom Edison!
Stop fussing with that silly light bulb and come to dinner!”
I have little aptitude for describing performances. I can only say that Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan
Turing was this year’s Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln. Total immersion. The actor embodies the character and personally
disappears.
Final Tally: A
conventional undertaking elevated by an actor who has convinced himself – and,
for long stretches, me as well – that it isn’t.
As a man named Pedro who had fourteen children when he heard
I had two children once said:
“Better than nothing.”
2 comments:
One of the reasons Mr. Turing was not given special dispensation in consideration of his service during the war was that his (and the others at Bletchley Park) service was considered top secret until the mid-70s (I think).
His work before, during and after the war had a profound effect on the developing science of computing but he was not the only one. But he was one of the most important ones.
Have you had the pain and pleasure of seeing Benedict in"Parade's End" ? I think it's on HBO on Demand. In it, he glorifies the Brirish 'stiff upper lip' to great effect! You'd love it.
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