#68 Dear Rocky - The Imitation Game

Dear Rocky,

I am not a Sherlock Holmes fan - let's just get that out there. I can't say I have been captivated by Benedict Cumberbatch - but what a name!

This is a true story, an amazing story, about World War II. But that is not the fascinating part for me - although I did have a great history lesson. I love it when that happens.

What fascinated me mainly was the portrayal of this character who is clearly a genius, and obviously on the autism spectrum, lacking all social skills and possessing an inability to read social cues. He seemed oblivious to the impact of his behaviours on others - check. So then, what I found most brilliant were the reactions to him by the other characters. They couldn't read him. They couldn't understand him. They resented him and found him rude and obnoxious. Arrogant.

Flashbacks to school, to the horrendous bullying and torture and to his first love, provide us with all the background and understanding we need. So well done.

And then along she came. I'll leave most of the character names and actors to you - but can I just say, this is the first movie I've ever enjoyed watching Keira Knightly in. They fumbled through their friendship come relationship and highlighted his sexuality. This character not only had to struggle through his genius, his difficulty in living in the world, not to mention surviving World War II, but he also had to cover up his sexuality.

One could be forgiven for lying in the foetal position, rocking back and forth, but instead, Alan Turing cracked the enigma code using a machine named after his first love - Christopher - and won the war. Okay, a few other things happened in between, but that was essentially it. 

Finally, human nature. A story of his time. Rather than be admired for thriving despite all of his adversities, he is persecuted because of his sexuality and treated with hormone therapy. What? Thank goodness for living in 2015.

The end of his life, we read about. Alan Turing killed himself in 1954 after a year of the treatment. It took until 2013 for the Queen to pardon him. Too little, too late.

Is it any wonder this true story made it to the big screen. It tells a tale of the extremes of the human experience and sadly, of intolerance.

What a movie. I'll be interested to see how it fares at the Oscars Rocky. I give it a 9/10. What about you?

Jodie

You can read Rocky's review here.