The movies I usually frequent are Science Fiction and Fantasy flicks. The large screen does their fastidiously gorgeous effects wonderfully. But this weekend, I went to a cerebral drama: The Imitation Game. This movie retells the story of how the British genius code-crackers built a machine that achieved helped win World War II.
This movie moved me. I felt touched by the truth life characters played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. Both actors have ranges that make them both top box office winners. I was fixated on their stories and their body language. Each actor came out of themselves to produce a classic movie.
As our own world heats up and verges towards war, the movie’s characters’ sense of decency, integrity and the desperate need to succeed to win peace in the movie made me nostalgic for my Mom.
My Mom survived WWII but her entire family did not. She also lost her husband. When a paternal lineage cousin brought her to the USA, she began to work her intelligence to survive. So much in appearance to Keira Knightley’s large eyed intelligence and spunk. This was the Mother I had not ever met. When she became my Mother, she was already older and settled into the American ways and didn’t have to go to work outside the home. And like Keira’s character, I was raised likewise where my parents had a say over my life well into my 30’s. Neither my nor my Mom’s life was a movie but so much of the movie spoke to me in remembrance of us.
Alan Turing in the face of Cumberbatch was a lamentable person. He was clearly Aspergers well before any diagnostic could name the psychological spectrum he had. I’ve always liked people who are that cerebral which is why I fell in love with Mr. Spock and not Captain Kirk when I was 13. The lament is that he was so poorly understood. And then he was severely punished for his homosexuality. This was the man who won the war for the British and Allies.
The movie is rich in historical fact. I recommend buying it for the classic it is already.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5CjKEFb-sM