We’ve all experienced it, we get an idea, but the
world just seems not to give a care in the world about it. You try to bring
light to your idea, and create attention around it, but nothing seems to work
out. Eventually you almost end up going crazy, because you think your idea is
so brilliant, that you do not understand why it is, that people won’t open up
their eyes, and see your brilliant idea!
This is what “The imitation game” revolves around. It
all revolves around a guy called “Alan Turing,” and his excellent idea of, how
you solve the Enigma!
The imitation game takes us back to the 1940s up until
the 1950s, where the Germans ruled parts of the world at the start of the
1940s, and lost them again around 1945. The movie itself locates us in England,
who were suffering immensely from the German empires rule. The Englishmen had
almost no way of fighting back, due to Enigma, which was the Germans way of
sending encrypted messages across the world, to communicate with their armies.
Throughout the movie, we follow a man named “Alan
Turning” and his goal of solving Enigma. Alan seems to be an extremely selfish
man, due to him prioritizing himself and his needs over others multiple times
in the movie. Alan is a healthy and good looking man at the start of the movie,
but things take a turn at the end, as he ends up with a mental illness, more
about that later.
Alans selfishness is proven to be absurdly
overwhelming for his relatives and friends multiple times throughout the movie,
an example could be, when he rejected the fact that he loved “Joan Clarke”,
which was Alans wife, during his work with Enigma. Joan ends up ignoring Alan
for an extensive amount of time, due to him prioritizing Enigma over her.
Alans past is also a factor that plays into his mental
illness. Alan was bullied during his time in high school, he only had one
person to talk to, which made him extremely vulnerable to threats, and he was
also very lonely. Alans friend educated Alan how to stand up to the things the
bullies did to him, which made Alan almost immune to any kind of hatred towards
him. One day, Alans life gets turned around though, as his friend dies of
Tuberculosis.
All of these things that happens to Alan, and has
happened, all contributes to his selfishness, and his urge to finish something
he started. Alans urge to finding the solution to Enigma, ends up paying off
for him, as he actually succeeds with it, the only problem about this though,
is that the machine he used to crack Enigma with, has now become his best, and
only friend, named Christopher. Whenever Enigma ended, he and his employees +
his wife, were told that they could never see each other again, they could not
speak of Enigma, and they should stay far away from anything related to it.
This ended up making Alan so lonely, that he had to construct his own machine
again, at home this time, and still, Christopher was his only friend.
The authorities eventually find some evidence of the
solving of Enigma, and Alan ends up being arrested. He’s charged with 2 years
of prison, but refuses to go. Therefore, the judges force him to either take
medication to cure himself of his “mental illness” – or go to prison. Of
course, Alan chooses the medication, as he just could not leave Christopher
alone.
The themes of the movie are some, that are used quite
often. We see the use of the theme “Love”
multiple times throughout the movie. Not only between Alan and Joan, but also
between Alan, and the relationship he’s trying to grow with his employees.
Alans ability to love, is complicated though. He seems to only care of the
people, that care for him and his interests, which again, is related to his
selfishness.
We also see signs of war and tragedy in the movie, as
the movie was based on WWII. The characters of the movie, is not exactly
participating in the “war” – but they have relatives that were sent to the
frontlines in France, to defend their reputation and country.
It’s easy to become extremely selfish without being
self-aware. This happens to Alan in the movie, and it completely tares him, and
everyone around him apart, as he refuses to listen to others suggestions and
thoughts. Alan experienced a lot throughout his life, more than acceptable for
any human, perhaps this could explain his sad case of suicide, as 41 years old.
Understanding the film
What is
Bletchley Park? – Bletchley Park was one of the most important factors in the
fight of the
Germans encrypted messages. The park was home to some of the most
important decryption of Enigma messages, ever constructed.
Who is Alan
Turing? – Alan Turing is the man behind the solving of the Enigma. Alan was the
man to solve the Enigma encryption, by making a machine, that could calculate
the encryption of the enigma message almost instantly.
How long
did he live? Alan committed suicide as 41 years old.
How did he
die? As said above, he committed suicide.
Who is Joan
Clarke? Joan Clarke is Alan Turings “Wife”
Why was the
machine called Christopher? Alans
Machine was called Christopher, due to his dead friend, who he lost back when
he went to highschool.
Is it a
true story? Yes, the solving of Enigma is based on a true story.
Translate the following words into Danish
Decryption – Afkodning/dekryptering
Enigma - Gåde
Prodigy - Vidunderbarn
Mediocrity - Middelmådig
An odd duck – En mærkelig and
A puff – Et sug
Brigade – En hær på 4000-5000 mand
Crew – Mandskab
Manual -
Manuelt
Stigma
Saucy -
Sassy
During -
Imens