Benedict Cumberpatch plays Alan Turing with Keira Knightley and other award-winning actors. Photo Credit: Variety

Mike LaPorte
Live Wire Marketing/Advertising Director

We all use computers. Whether it’s on a desk, on your lap, or in your hand, computers are essential to day-to-day life now, but no one questions where they came from, who made the first one, and what they were used for. Prepare to have your mind blown as you will discover who invented the first computer, and no, it was not Steve Jobs nor Bill Gates, but it was a British cryptographer who goes by the name of Alan Turing. He is the subject of the beautifully executed movie “The Imitation Game.”

Benedict Cumberbatch, who is famously known to play in his British TV series, “Sherlock” and his movie, “Star Trek: Into Darkness” plays Mr. Turing who is a very socially awkward man but who is also absolutely brilliant at the same time. When in grammar (another word for elementary) school, he was introduced to the world of cryptography. He is a whiz at math and anything that involves logic. In World War II, the Germans used a coding system called Enigma to send messages to each other that only Germans could understand. There wasn’t a single member of MI5 or MI6 (British Military Intelligence, their equivalent to the CIA) who could decode Enigma.

When they brought Turing onto the team, his idea was considered to be completely preposterous. Not only could the Allies not even decode a single message sent through Enigma, but the idea that a machine could decrypt the entire Nazi code was completely farcical in their eyes. Eventually, though, Turing built the machine with the help of his fellow coders and mathematicians, and he saved the world from the Nazis in doing so.

This often overlooked, but immensely critical victory, on the part of the British not only saved the world from the Nazis, but it opened up a new realm of science, and thus computer science was born. When the U.S. Department of Defense learned about Ultra, they tasked DARPA, a division of their department, to create a more modern, practical use that would be in operation by both civilian and military intelligence personnel.
Eventually, this led to the creation of the first Internet. When Jobs and Gates made the first computers, DARPA released their technology to the world, and now you are able to read this story about the movie that explains it all on a screen of your phone or computer.

Cumberbatch provides a completely believable persona of Alan Turing. He brings the perfect level of social awkwardness and yet, total brilliance that one might nowadays associate with someone who was likely on the mild-to-moderate side of the autistic spectrum. The movie also features Turing’s “love interest,” Joan Clarke, played by Keira Knightley, famously known for her roles in Pride & Prejudice and the Pirates of the Caribbean, whom Turing married so she could remain on the Ultra team, but whom he also had no romantic feelings toward. It tells an excellent story, and has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in which it competes with “Selma” and “American Sniper,” Best Actor for Cumberbatch, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Knightley.

If you still have the chance to see it in theaters, do so before it’s gone. If you miss that chance, though, definitely pick it up on DVD. It’s an excellent watch with family or close friends.

Movie Poster. Photo Credit: Gallery Hip