The Imitation Game
Posted: 30 Nov 2014, 11:58
Went to see this last night at Burnley. Reel Cinema formerly the Apollo complex at Hollywood Park. I booked the tickets online before we set of so we got a choice of seat. Concessionary rate now as we both qualify. If you book using card, ticket collection is easy, you simply take the same card you booked with, insert and remove into one of the ticket machines and it retrieves your booking information and prints your tickets. All fine and dandy, bought a few sweets for the auditorium and then went through to wait. We had tipped up 20 minutes before the scheduled start time of the film as advised on the website so expected that we might have as short wait. The film should have started at 20.30 but it turned out that the previous showing was late by about 5 minutes. After a short turnaround we were seated by 20.40, everyone else was in by about 20.45.
Nothing happened, literally nothing, house light still up for the next 15 minutes until just after 21.00. Finally the house lights dimmed to a minor cheer and the adverts started. Now I don't mind a few adverts but this set ran for a full 20 minutes, followed by another 15 minutes of feature trailers! The film we had come so see finally started at 21.40, 1 hour and 10 minutes late!
The Imitation Game tells the story of Alan Turing, it's an excellent portrayal by Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead roll. The film starts in the 1950's with the police investigation into a break in at his house and curiously why he has no wartime records on file. The story then moves between his work at Bletchley, his early life at public school and back to the 1950's police investigation. The various jumps from one era to another do not detract from the drama of the story but are used to good effect in explaining to some degree Turing's tortured personality. The film shows the development of what became known as the bombe machine. Turing referred to the machine as "Christopher" during the development, this was the name of his very best friend at public school who had died but had initially introduced the young mathematician to cyphers. The film has a strong cast with Keira Knighley as Joan Clarke, the first of the female cryptographers recruited for the core team. Charles Dance as Naval Commander Denniston in charge of Bletchley and Turing's potential nemesis. Mark Strong plays the suitably menacing but ultimately supportive Stewart Menzies who at his introduction stands in the corner of Dennistons office when the team is first brought together. One of the team, after all the introductions asks who he represents and he replies "MI6". "There's no such department" retorts the mathematician, "no there is'nt" replies Menzies. The roller coaster begins....
It's a good tale and from what I already know about Enigma and the development of the bombe it covers all of the salient points of the development and ultimate breaking of the code. The story is more about the man but the tale has to be told this way as the Enigma code was the defining moment of his brief and ultimately tragic life.
Recommended but not at Reel, I will be posting suitable feedback on their website.
Related, here's my visit to Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park - Home of the WWII Code Breakers
Nothing happened, literally nothing, house light still up for the next 15 minutes until just after 21.00. Finally the house lights dimmed to a minor cheer and the adverts started. Now I don't mind a few adverts but this set ran for a full 20 minutes, followed by another 15 minutes of feature trailers! The film we had come so see finally started at 21.40, 1 hour and 10 minutes late!
The Imitation Game tells the story of Alan Turing, it's an excellent portrayal by Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead roll. The film starts in the 1950's with the police investigation into a break in at his house and curiously why he has no wartime records on file. The story then moves between his work at Bletchley, his early life at public school and back to the 1950's police investigation. The various jumps from one era to another do not detract from the drama of the story but are used to good effect in explaining to some degree Turing's tortured personality. The film shows the development of what became known as the bombe machine. Turing referred to the machine as "Christopher" during the development, this was the name of his very best friend at public school who had died but had initially introduced the young mathematician to cyphers. The film has a strong cast with Keira Knighley as Joan Clarke, the first of the female cryptographers recruited for the core team. Charles Dance as Naval Commander Denniston in charge of Bletchley and Turing's potential nemesis. Mark Strong plays the suitably menacing but ultimately supportive Stewart Menzies who at his introduction stands in the corner of Dennistons office when the team is first brought together. One of the team, after all the introductions asks who he represents and he replies "MI6". "There's no such department" retorts the mathematician, "no there is'nt" replies Menzies. The roller coaster begins....
It's a good tale and from what I already know about Enigma and the development of the bombe it covers all of the salient points of the development and ultimate breaking of the code. The story is more about the man but the tale has to be told this way as the Enigma code was the defining moment of his brief and ultimately tragic life.
Recommended but not at Reel, I will be posting suitable feedback on their website.
Related, here's my visit to Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park - Home of the WWII Code Breakers