Breaking the Code

It all goes to show the power of Hollywoodification and some star glitz. I have just come here from submitting a review of Moore's "The Imitation Game", which I thought a fairly pathetic excuse of a historical drama, with some scenes at the level of adolescent petulance. Yet this movie currently enjoys an overall reviewer rating of 8.0, greater than the 7.3 provided by a mere 10 users to "Breaking the Code". Well let me set the record straight that Breaking the Code may have been "just" a TV movie, and it may not have had an all-star cast, and it may not have contained ludicrous histrionics obviously fabricated by a facile writer, and it may not have been pushed upon the world with the full power of Hollywood's promotional machine. But for all that, it is a far, far better drama. It portrays Turing credibly, it describes how Enigma was broken in a simplified, but sensible way, it shows with sensitivity the effect on Turing of prosecution for homosexuality. The Imitation Game has 719 user reviews, Breaking the Code has 11, including mine (shaking head with disgust).

This curious telemovie has a number of fierce devotees, including some who insist it's a better account of Alan Turing than the seriously over-hyped Hollywood version, The Imitation Game. In fact, it's a fairly unimaginative adaptation of a ponderous and often clunky stage play, and one that hasn't dated at all well. The chief virtue is supposedly Derek Jacobi's performance as Turing, but, truth be told, Jacobi - accomplished and committed as he is to the role - is as far from the real Turing as Cumberbatch's mannered, showy turn in Imitation Game. For one thing, Jacobi is as unlike Turing physically as it's possible to be. He's also twenty years older than Turing was when he died, and nearly twice the age Turing was when he was code-breaking at Bletchley Park. Ultimately, both versions make less of Turing's contribution to computing and code-breaking than they should. Where Imitation Game becomes preoccupied with manufacturing a romance with Joan Clarke that never was, Breaking The Code makes Turing's homosexuality THE BIG PROBLEM in a way that renders him tortured and tragic. In fact, Turing never was tortured about his sexuality; he was open and unapologetic in ways that were well ahead of his time. Even ahead of the prevailing attitudes in this 1980s telling of his tale. And yet, when it matters most the teleplay makes very little of the impact Turing's conviction for indecent acts had on his professional and personal life. It also fails to make much of the nature of his death (suicide, some say murder), which one would have thought was a gift to any dramatist. Overall, Breaking The Code is not so offensively phoney has The Imitation Game, but more or less equally unsatisfying. A definitive film biography of Turing is remains to be made.

A moving depiction of the life of genius Alan Turing, the mathematician who broke Nazi Germany's Enigma code during WWII and who provided much of the theoretical foundation of modern computer science. Jacobi masterfully portrays Turing in all phases of his life, from his troubled days as a student to his career as codebreaker at Bletchley Park, and to his later suicide after having been hounded to the point of despair by an ungrateful and mistrustful government over his homosexuality.

If this film has a flaw at all, it's that Jacobi is physically unlike Turing in every way; there's absolutely no point of resemblance. But his performance is so absorbing that you don't really notice until it's all over with.

On Octuber 7th, the United States went to war with Afganistan and tried to learn as much about the Tiliban as possible. Yet a decade later, America is no closer to victory than when it began. One of the Principal reasons for the slow progress is because the American military has banned it's gay cryptographers from service to it's country. It seems little has been learned from past mistakes such as the Brisish made during world War II. Back then it was a remarkable individual named Alan Turing, a British mathematician and cryptanalyst who Broke the mysterious German Egnima Machine and thus brought the War to a speedy end. In this film called " Breaking the Code " Derek Jacobi, plays Alan Turing who's insights and expertise solved that elusive problem. The life of Turing is prime example of what world government can do to destroy people who threaten the moral fiber of a country. Yet the movie itself is a half baked attempt to render the great man's life on film. Glossing over his life, it jumps from his youth to his later life stopping briefly to remind audiences of his hidden world as a reclusive gay individual. Alun Armstrong plays Mick Ross a British Inspector who investigates a minor robbery and discovers Turning's homosexuality, causing him to lose his anonymity and thus brings him to the pubic's attention, bringing him shame and ridicule. William Mannering plays a youthful Alan Turing, living with his mother who learns of his personal problems and the legal effects of the law. The film tries it's best to mix his past with his war-time achievements and falls short due to it's half handed attempt. Still, Jacobi is brilliant as the misunderstood scientist who has to undergo Chemical castration as part of his criminal sentence. This is a must movie for all his fans and I found it extremely well done. I easily recommend it to anyone studying the life Alan Turning. ****

Although excellent drama in its own right, with stellar acting and directing, the film is also one of the few insightful portrayals of creative genius. The film gets it all right, from depictions of Turing's precocious (yet difficult) boyhood, to accounts of the actual creative process. This is a must see film.