We in stein

PG 13. 113 min

I'm not usually a big fan of war movies but other than a few exceptions I tend to prefer World War 2 to Vietnam or Middle Eastern excursions. Maybe the imitation game isn't the prototype battle film but it is based in the conflict in the European theater.

Here the battles were of strategy and wit, more like a game of chess than a prize fight In one corner we have the brilliant mathematicians of the Nazi Party who have designed a seemingly unbreakable code generator called the enigma. It has allowed them to plan and communicate attacks at will while the Allied forces remain completely in the dark.

In the otherthe other corner the collective mathematical science heavyweights of the British Empire, the best and brightest in their field set with the task of cracking that code.

One might be skeptical about the entertainment value of a film based on a handful of British nerds fearing that it might degenerated into The Big Bang Theory vs Hitler but rest assured the conflicts these men and one woman struggle with our intent. They're at odds with each other, their is superior officers, the British intelligence community, the morals and prejudices of the mid 20th century and, of course, the Axis powers.

Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) is the most gifted of a group of mathematicians but he's also arrogant, antisocial and homosexual. The first two of those attributes cause friction with the team and the third with the archaic sexual attitudes of the times.

But even though the repercussions hang over Turing and his associates like the sword of Damocles this is not a morality lecture. This is a story of intrigue, set on the worldwide stage and a damn good one.

There are uncomfortable truth about war and society but THE IMITATION GAME treats them fairly and in a thought-provoking manner. But the first and foremost this is an exciting and heroic story seasoned with just enough bitterness.

A

WSS