The Imitation Game is a 2014 American historical drama directed by Morten Tyldum. Alan turning is a mathematician and is employed by bletchley park under the rule of Commander Alistair denniston. he has been tasked with breaking the enigma machine, used by the Germans to send coded messages. Alan from a young age has always been very serious and lacked a sense of humor. through out the film we see glimpses into alans past and learn about Christopher Morcom who shows him cryptography and eventually alan forms romantic feelings towards Christopher.
All of Alan’s work partners find him incredibly difficult to work with as Alan sees them as inferior to him. he ends up building the enigma breaker himself until Commander Denniston cuts funding for the project as there have been no results. Turning writes to the then president of England Winston Churchill who then gives anal all of the funding required. and places Alan in-charge of the team. Alan fires several of his co workers and places a crossword in the newspaper. from this he hires Joan Clark.
once the Machine which he named Christopher is completed it is ineffective as it cannot solve the enigma by the end of their day which is when the Germans change the code. Denniston comes back and orders for the machine to be destroyed and fire Alan. all of his co workers stand up and defend Alan. Clark decides to leave as her parents wish but Alan proposes to her to make sure she stayed. during the wedding Alan confesses his sexual orientation to a co worker who warns him to keep it quiet. Alan has a brain wave after overhearing a clerk mention a German soldier that she spies on and his messages. after adjusting the machine it fires out the decryption in minutes. Alan realizes not everything can be decrypted as the Germans would eventually find out enigma has been broken.
In the 1950s Turing is convicted of indecency and, in lieu of a jail sentence, undergoes chemical castration so he can continue his work. Clarke visits him in his home and witnesses his physical and mental deterioration. She comforts him by saying that his work saved millions of lives.
7 June 1954 Alan Turning took his life as a result of his medication. He is considered the father of modern computing and A.I.
After watching this movie and learning about the fantastic mathematician and war hero Alan Turning I am amazed at how much of a stigma was around homosexuality in the 1950’s. it was so bad that even the one of the greatest minds in the world was charged with something that they cannot control. it is a shame that he took his own life when he had so much potential.
I am thankful that the world we live in today now accepts people for who they are and people who are different may be dissed but will never face what happened to Alan Turning during the last years of his life.