Film: The Imitation Game

I sat and watched this the other night, the film is a biopic of Alan Turing who I must confess I had never heard of. Most of us will have seen The Dam Busters and know about Barnes Wallace and his bouncing bomb, The Dam Busters is a great film about a great man.

Alan Turing was a mathematical genius who invented and built a machine which cracked the code of Enigma and IMO I think that this man deserved a far better film than this one to tell his story.

The film makes a point of wanting you to know that he was homosexual which I felt was totally irrelevant to what this man had achieved. Some more facts about him come on screen at the end of the film i.e. that he committed suicide, they could easily have just mentioned his sexual preferences in with these and goodness knows who decided that 'drippy' Benedict Cumberbatch should play the lead role!! I think this is a very poor film for someone who was obviously a very great man, he deserves better.
Anyone else seen it?

 

I'm not sure that it was irrelevant. Imagine the pressure that homosexuals were under. This surely makes his achievements all the more remarkable.
After his conviction he opted for what was basically chemical castration. At the time of his "suicide" (there is some speculation that it was an accident, and also there was no suicide note) the course of drugs had not long finished and it is possible that this may have had an affect if it was suicide.
It was almost sixty years before he received a pardon.

 

I agree, but the film does little to portray that!!

 

@roders I see you disagree with my opinion of The Imitation Game, you're not Benedict Cumberbatch incognito are you??

 

I thought it was a good film. I was left with the overall impression that it was a terrible way to treat a war hero but then that's how homosexuals were treated then. I'm really glad he was pardoned.

 

Yes I agree, but again the film didn't cover this aspect at all, I still feel that this man deserved a better made film than this.

 

I've seen it. I made a point of watching it as Bletchley is just a wee bit down road from here. I feel it was terrible treatment he and others received just because of a genetic difference.

 

He was good enough for them when he was needed, even good enough for a token honour (CBE or OBE I can't remember) but not good enough for someone to have a quite word after his arrest and say "back off, he helped save our asses in the war"!

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

Well said!!!!!

 

I'm guessing he was a vet?

 

Not seen the film, but I think I know the story.

He was treated badly, but people were in those days, by todays standards.
Its actually history.

 

@JWK The film is supposed to be based on his achievement of cracking Enigma, it doesn't actually give you the impression that he was 'hounded' as such, just that there was no exception made in his case, the law was the law. If Turing is one of your heroes then I doubt you would like this poorly made film.

 

Just had a quick look at his Wiki page and saw this photo....................