Alexise C.

Hernandez BSCE-1B 11-17-22

The Imitation Game
The imitation game is an American drama film released on 2014. The film is about Alan Turing who is a
British mathematician, cryptanalyst, a pioneering computer scientist, and the key figure in cracking Nazi
Germany’s naval enigma code that helped win the second world war. But he was later convicted of indecency
and, in lieu of jail sentence as well as undergoing chemical castration to be able to continue his work. Alan
Turing underwent physical and mental deterioration because of overworking and the chemicals used on him, he
then later committed suicide after a year of government-mandated hormonal therapy on June 7th, 1954.
The film starts to takes place during 1951 in Manchester, England where policemen investigated on
Alan Turing after a break in at his home and during his investigation Turing tells the story of his time working
at Bletchley Park. His story started back at 1927 where he was studying at a boarding school unhappy and
bullied by others. He then met Christopher Morcom who he develops friendship with and the one who
introduced cryptography to him. Turing later on develops feeling for Morcom but he unexpectedly developed
tuberculosis which is also the reason for his death. Because of Morcom’s sudden death, Turing failed to convey
his feeling for him.
In 1993, Britain declares war on Germany which led Turing to travel to Bletchley Park where he met
Commander Alastair Denniston who directed him to join the cryptography team of Hugh Alexander, John
Cairncross, Peter Hilton, Keith Furman, and Charles Richards who are trying to decrypt the enigma machine
which the Nazi’s used to send coded message to one another. Due to Turing’s personality, he was difficult to
work with as he considers his colleagues as inferior to him. He designed a machine that decipher enigma but
after Denniston refuses to fund the construction of his machine he decided to write to the Prime Minister
Winston Churchill who accepted his request and funded his machine as well as appointing him as the person in
charge of his team. Turing then fires Furman and Richards and decided to place a difficult crossword in a
newspaper to find replacements for the former team members. He then met Joan Clarke who is a Cambridge
graduate as well as the one who surpassed his test, but Joan’s parents wouldn’t allow her to work with the other
male cryptographers so Turing went and arrange for her to live and work with other female clerks who
intercepts the message and shares his plan with her.
Turing’s machine was built and named as Christopher but the machine can not determine the enigma
settings before the Germans reset the enigma encryption every day. Denniston then orders for it to be destroyed
as well as Turing fired but the other cryptographers threaten to leave if he gets fired. Clarke then decided to
leave per her parents wishes so Turing proposes marriage to her which she accepted. During their reception, he
confesses his sexuality to Cairncross who warned him to keep it a secret. After overhearing a clerk about the
messages she received, Turing realizes that he can program the machine to decode words he already knows
exist on certain messages. After he recalibrates the machine, it quickly decodes a message and the team
celebrated however, Turing realized that they cannot act on every decoded message or the Germans would
realize that the enigma has been broken.
Turing then discovers that Cairncross is a Soviet spy and tried to confront him but Craincross argued
that the soviets are allies working for the same goals and threatens to reveal Turing’s homosexuality if the
others know that he is an agent. After an MI6 agent, Stewart Menzies appears to threaten Clarke so Turing
reveals that Craincross is a spy. Menzies then told them that he already knew and put him there in order to leak
messages to the soviets for British benefits. Fearing for Clarke’s safety, Turing told her to leave Bletchley Park
as well as him being gay and lying about never caring about her. After the war, Menzies told the cryptographers
to destroy their works and can never see each other again or share what they have done.
 In the 1950’s, Turing is convicted and undergoes chemical castration. Clarke visited him in his home
and saw him go to physical and mental deterioration, she reminded him that his works saved lives and uses the
phrase Christopher used to Turing and Turing once used on her: “Sometimes it is the people no one imagines
anything of who do the things that no one can imagine”. Turing then committed suicide after a year of
government-mandated hormonal therapy.
The imitation game contained a lot of characters that helped Turing in discovering and improving
himself, such as Joan Clarke who became Turing’s fiancé and a part of his team in decoding the enigma.
Christopher Morcom who introduces cryptography to Turing as well as his first love. Commander Denniston
who appointed him to join the group of cryptographers to decode enigmas. John Craincross who is a double spy
that leaked messages to the soviets for the British. And Stewart Menzies who already knew Craincross’ identity
as a double spy and the one who ordered for the cryptographers work to be destroyed and never be spoken to
ever again.
The film taught us a lot as well such as “looking past prejudice which allows you to do new brilliant and
great things. You do not move forward by following convention. You celebrate those who are different, who
are not burdened by ‘normality.'” Which tells us that we should not let normality cage us to do better things
not only for the better for us but for others as well.