The Imitation Game Review

   I remember sitting in my high school World History, U.S. History and Holocaust and Human Behavior courses and learning about the horrors of World War II. I remember learning about the concentration camps and how German troops were destroying Europe until a certain turning point in the war. I was told that the U.S. got back on its feet and helped it allies win the war, when in reality, it was due to the genius mind of Allen Turing. I never even heard his name until the movie, The Imitation Game, was released and gained a lot of attention through the media. This movie turned heads by the sole purpose that people did not know about this extraordinary man and this team who broke the enigma code so we could read the German messages and could prevent certain major attacks from happen. The breaking of the enigma code cut the war down by an estimated two years and saved roughly 14 million peoples lives. What made this movie strike even more people due to the fact that Turing was a homosexual.
   This comes as no shock as you are watching the film since there are many flashback moments that revel the fact that he is gay. As the film progresses, you can then tell how this impacts his life. At first, Turing comes of as a regular mathematician who is quirky and likes to solve crossword puzzles. Then there are subtile hints until he officially comes out to another team mate. This does not happen until the later part in the film. Then you notice more and more how much he gets picked on and that it can be because he was targeted to be gay. He even goes to an extent of getting engaged to a girl so it would hide his homosexuality. After he cracked the enigma code, they said that he could not tell anyone about the code or his sexuality since it was against the law. Once the war was over and they burned all of their records. since it was a top secret government mission, the government found out about his sexuality and forced him to take government mandated hormonal therapy. This medication pushed him towards insanity and compromised his genius mind. This sadly led him to commit suicide after one year of taking the, "therapy treatment". It is a shame that the man who is responsible for the turning point one of the most distrustful wars, and one of the founding fathers of the computer, was not able to be himself since it was against the law and it caused him toward insanity and suicide. He was also not the only one who experienced this. Between 1895-1967, about 49,000 gay men were convicted of, "gross indecency" under the British law. Thankfully, laws have been changing and it is more acceptable to be part of the LGBTQ+ community and the barriers have been breaking down day by day. This story made it absolutely heartbreaking to think that one of the most brilliant minds was always having an internal battle with his sexuality and he always had to hide who he always was, until the government found out and eventually led him to his death.
   I was originally watching this movie to analyze the main character, Allen Turing, and how being a homosexual effected his life, but I notice a piece of this movie that really disturbed me as a woman and it was something that I could identify with more easily. The leading woman in this movie, Joan Clarke, faced many obstacles due to her sex. They did not believe her when she came in to be tested to be part of the team because she finished the cross word puzzle. The curator of the testing did not believe her and said that the job applications of secretary were upstairs. Once Turning noticed her brilliance, he was the only one to make sure that she was treated semi fairly and did all that he could. She still faced oppression in many ways since it was really undercover that she was working on the enigma code and there were times that she tried to enter the building with the rest of their team mates and they wouldn't let her past until Turing grabbed her and pulled her through. There was also a point where she herself was conflicted because her parents wanted her to come home and marry but she wanted to her make history and she knew the importance of her work. Her urge to persevere and work hard really struck home to me as she is an amazing female mathematician, and I am a female student in college who is studying mathematics. I felt horrible for all of the oppression she faced because of her sex. This also reminds me of how far gender equality has come and how far it has yet to come.
   This movie has brought to life so many topics that have changed and still need to be changed. They touched upon gender equality and the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone, seeing that I would now rank it within my top five favorite movies. I believe it is a film that should be seen by all and could benefit all, and if I were a history teacher, I would be showing this film to my class since it covers so many aspects of the war but also touches upon issues that are still prevalent today. Lastly, if I could have a hypothetical meal with anyone dead of alive, I would wish to have it with Allen Turing and talk to him about enigma, but also let him know that he is not alone and that it is ok to be who you are.