This movie is supposedly based on a true story, it says so right upfront. So that's a give-away straight off. It's mostly fiction.
Set in the wartime Bletchley Park of screenwriter Graham Moore's imagination it's also supposed to be based on the factual account "Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges (you'll see that claim in tiny print right at the end of the closing credits) which relates Turing's life and involvement with the breaking of Enigma. Anyone who has read that book will know that this movie bears little resemblance to that specific book (nor indeed to any other book on the subject), and I would even doubt that anyone involved with this production has actually read it, and that includes Graham Moore.
Although names remain as in real life, also bearing little resemblance to reality are the characterisations of most others who were involved in the real events. Some of the main personnel who should have been included are missing, and events have been added that never happened, nor ever could have happened. The scene of the alleged breakthrough in the reading of Enigma traffic is totally absurd, as was the inclusion in the movie of the character of John Cairncross. Yes the latter was at Bletchley, but at a different time and in a different area, and would have been totally divorced from the events covered in this movie.
It would seem that at the moment Cumberbatch can do no wrong, and his portrayal of Turing was precisely how the producers wanted him to play it, but it was most definitely nothing like the real Alan Turing whatsoever. And couldn't the producers have picked someone who actually looked like Turing? Likewise a look-alike to play Joan Clarke?
As a fictional movie in its own right it was reasonable, but if anyone believes that it's an account of the true events then they'd be advised to do further research on the subject. There's hardly a line in the screenplay which would stand up to scrutiny. It's as false as the movie U-571, and equally as misleading on what really happened.
I believe that Turing is one of Moore's heroes. I can only conclude by saying that (imo) he has given him a very unworthy epitaph. Given the service Turing gave to his country, the world, and to science in general, he deserves a much better epitaph than this pot-boiler of a movie.
Set in the wartime Bletchley Park of screenwriter Graham Moore's imagination it's also supposed to be based on the factual account "Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges (you'll see that claim in tiny print right at the end of the closing credits) which relates Turing's life and involvement with the breaking of Enigma. Anyone who has read that book will know that this movie bears little resemblance to that specific book (nor indeed to any other book on the subject), and I would even doubt that anyone involved with this production has actually read it, and that includes Graham Moore.
Although names remain as in real life, also bearing little resemblance to reality are the characterisations of most others who were involved in the real events. Some of the main personnel who should have been included are missing, and events have been added that never happened, nor ever could have happened. The scene of the alleged breakthrough in the reading of Enigma traffic is totally absurd, as was the inclusion in the movie of the character of John Cairncross. Yes the latter was at Bletchley, but at a different time and in a different area, and would have been totally divorced from the events covered in this movie.
It would seem that at the moment Cumberbatch can do no wrong, and his portrayal of Turing was precisely how the producers wanted him to play it, but it was most definitely nothing like the real Alan Turing whatsoever. And couldn't the producers have picked someone who actually looked like Turing? Likewise a look-alike to play Joan Clarke?
As a fictional movie in its own right it was reasonable, but if anyone believes that it's an account of the true events then they'd be advised to do further research on the subject. There's hardly a line in the screenplay which would stand up to scrutiny. It's as false as the movie U-571, and equally as misleading on what really happened.
I believe that Turing is one of Moore's heroes. I can only conclude by saying that (imo) he has given him a very unworthy epitaph. Given the service Turing gave to his country, the world, and to science in general, he deserves a much better epitaph than this pot-boiler of a movie.
