The Imitation Game
Yes, that's right, I finally saw "The Imitation Game" yesterday night. This post will probably get rambly and it will be detailed so I will put everything behind a cut and if you haven't watched the movie, you're not allowed to click on the cut. Go watch it, and go soon, but go in completely unspoiled please.
For people who haven't seen the movie and won't click on the cut: this movie is worth seeing. It's impressive and offers a view on the war that's completely unusual, imo. It's incredibly well acted and each and every member of the cast offers a stellar performance. Benedict is unbelievable. But most of all, please go see this movie and meet Alan Turing. He is all that matters.
Spoilers from here onwards.
I'll say it: I mostly wanted to see this movie because of Benedict. I was of course interested in knowing Alan Turing's story and all, but basically all that mattered to me was Benedict. That is not how I feel anymore. All the awards, all the recognition, all the talk that this movie achieves or inspires are important only because they'll make sure people know and talk about Alan Turing. What he did and what was done to him, *that's* all that matters.
The main thing that I took with me when the movie ended was the knowledge that people who are different have always been (and unfortunately will always be...) mistreated: bullied, unrecognized, ridiculed or mostly left alone like they don't deserve any kindness. And that is something that hits me right in the stomach and makes me want to scream.
The scenes with the young Alan were almost impossible for me to bear. His autism and his isolation are evidenced a lot more there, and it makes a lot of sense since he still had to learn not to let the world get to him and develop the "thick skin" (or the appearance of it) that presented him to the world as an asshole later in life. Still, the horrible bullying he was subjected to, the way his being different was seen as being less, the simple joy he felt when he found a friend, someone who not only liked him but accepted him for who he was and didn't make him feel alone anymore. Young Alan says it all so clearly: people talk in code every day and I can't understand them. But he understood Christopher, and he felt understood by him. Losing Christopher and having to keep all his pain inside because he knew, he *knew*, it wouldn't be accepted or understood.... yeah, young Alan is painful to watch. Gorgeously acted, though.
Something else that hurt and that I hadn't taken into account is that the simple fact of breaking the Enigma code wasn't enough. What they did there at Bletchley Park was decide who lived and who died in order to keep the German High Command from finding out that they'd broken the code. They won the war, they saved millions of lives, but they also sacrificed a lot of innocents for "the greater good." There's such a fine line here and I'm not sure how I feel about it, tbh.
Joan Clarke was a truly remarkable woman and even if she didn't have all the screentime I'd thought Keira Knightley would, every scene with her was important. I loved the instant connection she and Alan found: two people with extraordinary minds who, for two very different reasons, went unrecognized and even ridiculed. I wanted to punch that idiot who asked Joan to be honest and confess she hadn't solved the puzzle while trying to send her to take the test with all the other secretaries because that's all a woman is good for! UGH!
I loved how much Joan cared for Alan and how she tried to help him any way she could: by having his coworkers "like" him so that they'd help him build "Christopher"; by working alongside him to link the translated messages; by trying to tell him that she knew he was gay and didn't care because they could have something good together anyway, something beautiful. By being so hurt when Alan, in a misguided attempt to protect her, told her he'd never cared for her. By being with Alan at the end, comforting him, offering to testify on his behalf, trying to engage him and telling him to always remember what he'd achieved. Joan Clarke was a true inspiration.
The last scene of the movie is not something I'll ever be able to forget. I watched it through my tears and I kept sobbing while the credits rolled. I just sat there, with the screen gone black and the final credits rolling, covering my face with my hands and crying into them. I can't believe something so cruel could happen to someone so extremely good... a war hero, a genius, a good man, someone fragile and strong at the same time, someone who learned that violence only feels good for the perpetrator if the victim responds and so he stopped giving them the satisfaction. Alan Turing was thanked for his service with chemical castration for being gay. He was a wonderful human being and he felt so alone and so desperate that he took his own life.
The hormones injections they forced on him, that he chose so he could be able to keep working and to still be with "Christopher" otherwise he'd truly be alone, messed with his genius mind so much that he couldn't solve a crosswords puzzle anymore. The hormones made him shaky, emotional, moody and exhausted. Benedict played that so masterfully that I wouldn't have needed for them to tell me Alan was under hormonal treatment: every woman could recognize those symptoms in him.
I am crying here, guys, and I'm not even joking. So yes, Benedict is incredible and I'm not even surprised about it. His performance killed me and it'll stay with me for a very long time. But please, please just go see this movie for Alan. Go meet him, listen to him, get to know him, understand him, let yourself be amazed by his genius and endeared by his character. Get angry for what was done to him, for how he was treated and for being sentenced because of his sexuality. Cry with him and for him. Don't let him be alone anymore.
Go meet Alan, and give him the recognition he so deserves and never had.
For people who haven't seen the movie and won't click on the cut: this movie is worth seeing. It's impressive and offers a view on the war that's completely unusual, imo. It's incredibly well acted and each and every member of the cast offers a stellar performance. Benedict is unbelievable. But most of all, please go see this movie and meet Alan Turing. He is all that matters.
Spoilers from here onwards.
I'll say it: I mostly wanted to see this movie because of Benedict. I was of course interested in knowing Alan Turing's story and all, but basically all that mattered to me was Benedict. That is not how I feel anymore. All the awards, all the recognition, all the talk that this movie achieves or inspires are important only because they'll make sure people know and talk about Alan Turing. What he did and what was done to him, *that's* all that matters.
The main thing that I took with me when the movie ended was the knowledge that people who are different have always been (and unfortunately will always be...) mistreated: bullied, unrecognized, ridiculed or mostly left alone like they don't deserve any kindness. And that is something that hits me right in the stomach and makes me want to scream.
The scenes with the young Alan were almost impossible for me to bear. His autism and his isolation are evidenced a lot more there, and it makes a lot of sense since he still had to learn not to let the world get to him and develop the "thick skin" (or the appearance of it) that presented him to the world as an asshole later in life. Still, the horrible bullying he was subjected to, the way his being different was seen as being less, the simple joy he felt when he found a friend, someone who not only liked him but accepted him for who he was and didn't make him feel alone anymore. Young Alan says it all so clearly: people talk in code every day and I can't understand them. But he understood Christopher, and he felt understood by him. Losing Christopher and having to keep all his pain inside because he knew, he *knew*, it wouldn't be accepted or understood.... yeah, young Alan is painful to watch. Gorgeously acted, though.
Something else that hurt and that I hadn't taken into account is that the simple fact of breaking the Enigma code wasn't enough. What they did there at Bletchley Park was decide who lived and who died in order to keep the German High Command from finding out that they'd broken the code. They won the war, they saved millions of lives, but they also sacrificed a lot of innocents for "the greater good." There's such a fine line here and I'm not sure how I feel about it, tbh.
Joan Clarke was a truly remarkable woman and even if she didn't have all the screentime I'd thought Keira Knightley would, every scene with her was important. I loved the instant connection she and Alan found: two people with extraordinary minds who, for two very different reasons, went unrecognized and even ridiculed. I wanted to punch that idiot who asked Joan to be honest and confess she hadn't solved the puzzle while trying to send her to take the test with all the other secretaries because that's all a woman is good for! UGH!
I loved how much Joan cared for Alan and how she tried to help him any way she could: by having his coworkers "like" him so that they'd help him build "Christopher"; by working alongside him to link the translated messages; by trying to tell him that she knew he was gay and didn't care because they could have something good together anyway, something beautiful. By being so hurt when Alan, in a misguided attempt to protect her, told her he'd never cared for her. By being with Alan at the end, comforting him, offering to testify on his behalf, trying to engage him and telling him to always remember what he'd achieved. Joan Clarke was a true inspiration.
The last scene of the movie is not something I'll ever be able to forget. I watched it through my tears and I kept sobbing while the credits rolled. I just sat there, with the screen gone black and the final credits rolling, covering my face with my hands and crying into them. I can't believe something so cruel could happen to someone so extremely good... a war hero, a genius, a good man, someone fragile and strong at the same time, someone who learned that violence only feels good for the perpetrator if the victim responds and so he stopped giving them the satisfaction. Alan Turing was thanked for his service with chemical castration for being gay. He was a wonderful human being and he felt so alone and so desperate that he took his own life.
The hormones injections they forced on him, that he chose so he could be able to keep working and to still be with "Christopher" otherwise he'd truly be alone, messed with his genius mind so much that he couldn't solve a crosswords puzzle anymore. The hormones made him shaky, emotional, moody and exhausted. Benedict played that so masterfully that I wouldn't have needed for them to tell me Alan was under hormonal treatment: every woman could recognize those symptoms in him.
I am crying here, guys, and I'm not even joking. So yes, Benedict is incredible and I'm not even surprised about it. His performance killed me and it'll stay with me for a very long time. But please, please just go see this movie for Alan. Go meet him, listen to him, get to know him, understand him, let yourself be amazed by his genius and endeared by his character. Get angry for what was done to him, for how he was treated and for being sentenced because of his sexuality. Cry with him and for him. Don't let him be alone anymore.
Go meet Alan, and give him the recognition he so deserves and never had.