In all likelihood, for all we know, Benedict Cumberbatch is also aStar Warssecret).
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Alan Turing was arguably one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.
During World War II he led the codebreaking endeavour to crack the German Enigma machine.
Still, in spite of his achievements, his story is not very well known.
He chose the latter and ended up committing suicide in 1954, poisoning himself with cyanide.
He was only 41 years old.
Turing is well-known within particular specialised academic spheres and a number of international universities have buildings named after him.
Its quite incredible and, indeed, unjust considering the contribution to the world.
2012 also saw the commemoration of Alan Turing Year to mark the science heros 100th birthday.
So it is with this new American-funded, British-made feature.
I knew very little about Alan Turing before I went into a screening ofThe Imitation Gamea month ago.
Hearing her mutter aloud oh, maybe hes gay!
Come the closing credits she was in tears and audibly sobbing.
Thats the power of a well-made biographical film and Im happy thatThe Imitation Gameis one of those.
Movies can bring history to life and humanise real past personalities in the eyes and minds of the audience.
There are omissions and things are condensed and spliced around the montages sequence to fit within the two-hour runtime.
For a start, its about a kooky super-genius fighting Nazis.
And of course weve got that man Benedict Cumberbatch front and centre, playing another odd duck.
Even so, theres truth indirector Morten Tyldums assessmentthat its a movie about a gay mathematician in the 40s.
Its not really a crowd-pleasing movie.
These perhaps unusual subjects have also undoubtedly benefitted from brilliant performances and the tremendous vision of highly-skilled filmmakers.
(Think Meryl Streep andThe Iron Ladyand you may get what I mean.)
Im just not really interested in seeing films about well-known aristocrats, political leaders and pop stars.
A more recent resonant case study would bePride, even though its more of a collective biography.
Its a fitting tribute and the just treatment that Alan Turing deserves.
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You canread Jamess previous column here.
