I like films that follow the story of someone's life or an event. I don't mind whether it's fiction or non fiction but I don't want it to be a documentary :)
Thanks!
For those who haven't seen 'The Imitation Game' and are wondering if they should go to find out more about Alan Turing and his role during the second world war then don't. If you want to see a semi-romantic film about misunderstood genius as Benedict Cumberbatch reprises his role as Sherlock then by all means go for it.
There is so much utter shit in the move that I cannot possibly go through it all. The first huge blunder is Alan Turing working away separately from everyone else as he builds a Bombe (machine designed to crack enigma). He faces much opposition from people claiming he is wasting his time and the machines could never crack as cipher and the old fashioned methods of 'doing it by hand' (whatever that means) are better. He obtains the resources for this by writing to Winston Churchill without anyone else knowing and getting himself promoted to leader of the team. There are a number of things wrong here:
- Everyone know machines could crack enigma. The Poles managed it in using machines for the first time in 1938 (they had previously used more laborious methods) and had shared this intelligence with the British.
- Alan Turing did not build the Bombe. The mechanical work was done by Gordon Welchman (who doesn't even appear in the film). Turing only designed it playing almost no part in it's actual construction.
- The letter that gets sent to Churchill is probably referencing an actual letter sent by four of Bletchely's members in which they asked Churchill for more materials and were granted them. It was not done behind the back of the other members of the team although they did not have the permission of the commander of Bletchely.
After much guff about how the machine isn't working Turing finally has a breakthrough in a pub about how to break into the enigma machines. He 'suddenly realises' that he can use the fact that they know what some of the parts of the messages are going to be to work backwards and discover the settings for the machine. This is done because one of the women who works at the intercept station mentions that she knows the German who she listens in to the communications of has a girlfriend because he always starts his messages with the same five letters CILLY. This is patently absurd, again for multiple reasons:
- How in the world does the interceptor know that every message begins in the same way. They are encrypted that is the whole fucking point of the whole fucking film. Unless this German is so intent on paying
I'm so grateful to have found my way out. Thank you all for your help.
Hello! Dr Sue Black and Steve Colgan here. We are massive Bletchley Park and Turing fans and are answering questions here on anything relevant that you would like to ask us. I started a campaign to save Bletchley Park in 2008 and have just written a book about it ably assisted by the wonderful Steve Colgan.
http://unbound.co.uk/books/saving-bletchley-park
I set up a blog as I started the campaign, if you are interested in looking at an old school blog complete with pics of Bletchley Park and more check it out here:
http://www.savingbletchleypark.org/
For a bit of more rounded info here's my bio: Guardian Top 10 Women in Tech ∞ Recognition for Turing ∞ Saving Bletchley Park ∞ @savvytechmums ∞ 4 kids ∞ #feminist
and a piece I wrote called "Britain still owes Turing a debt" in The Daily Telegraph UK national newspaper: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9314910/Britain-still-owes-Alan-Turing-a-debt.html
On Twitter I'm @Dr_Black https://twitter.com/Dr_Black
Here's Steve's bio: Author, illustrator, speaker. 'QI' and 'Museum of Curiosity' elf. Former mutton shunter. Currently writing a new book.: 'Why did the Policeman Cross the Road?'
On Twitter he is @stevyncolgan https://twitter.com/stevyncolgan
We look forward to talking to you :)
I suppose they wanted to really push the misunderstood genius part of it all, but they could have shown him more as he was in reality, as well as showing more of how being a gay man at the time had an impact on his life, and work.
Okay, so when Alan Turing's big computer thingy decodes the Nazi messages it shouldn't end with them deciding to keep the decoding a secret and have all that dreary characterization nonsense.
Instead, Turing should be suddenly infused with the power of Teh Gay^TM and he fuses with his computer to create a horror like at the end of Akira and then he rampages across the English countryside absorbing all technology as he goes and then he wades across the English Channel like a biomechanical Juggernaut and then he walks over to Berlin and punches a hole into the bunker where Hitler is cowering and then tears him apart like fresh bread.
And then Turing-monster takes Hitler's corpse back over to London and sticks one half on top of Big Ben and the other half on top of London Bridge and declares that he is the One and the Strongest and that Fuck Y'all, He Just Invented the Mother-Fucking COMPUTER Bitches and Deal With It.
Then he puts on the sunglasses as the Who goes "YEEEEAAHHHH!" and Turing rides off into the sunset with Keiera Knightleasefly in a totally non-heterosexual manner.
And then they get all the Oscars.
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I can't seem to find any showtimes for The Imitation Game in my area. I'm in South East Michigan and have never had this problem. Is the movie having a very limited showing? Does anyone know what's going on? It was supposed to come out Nov. 28 in the US.
I just finished re-watching this episode and I was blown away by how well she managed to imitate the way the doctor talks/acts. Even her body language is spot on. I can almost see the Doctor when she's acting. I always like seeing actors playing other actors, but her interpretation was truly outstanding.
Edit: My first gold! Thank you kind stranger!!
