Review: Cumberbatch is stellar as Turing, the WWII hero most people don’t know

Posted on January 16, 2015

By MARK VIOLA

According to the late Winston Churchill, mathematician Alan Turing made the single biggest contribution to the Allied victory over Nazi Germany during World War II. I’ve known the broad strokes of Turing’s story for years, so I sometime forget that his name is not necessarily well known, even by those who consider themselves history buffs.

Well, hopefully now, that will change with the excellent film “The Imitation Game,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch (“Sherlock,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”) as Turing. The movie, while taking a number of liberties while retelling the actual events, shines a bright light on the work conducted by Turing and others at Bletchley Park in England to break Germany’s Enigma Code. Additionally, it shows how poorly Turing’s home country, the same one he helped save, would ultimately treat him in later years.

Spearheaded by a spectacular performance from Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game” is a tense historical tale that is all the more amazing because it is true. Directed by Morten Tyldum, who makes his English-language debut, the movie is easily one of the best films of 2014, filled with intrigue, compelling characters and just enough humor to make all the talk of high-level math and secret codes go down smoothly.

All in all, “The Imitation Game” is a powerful film with a fascinating true story to tell, with some admitted embellishments. Preferably they would have stuck a bit closer to the actual events, but even with that caveat, the movie is still one of the best of 2014.

The film is rated PG-13 for some sexual references, mature thematic material and historical smoking.

(This is a shortened version of the full review available in our printed or e-edition papers.)

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