Britain's Greatest Codebreaker

October. 17,2012      
Rating:
7
Trailer Synopsis Cast

Alan Turing is the genius British mathematician who was instrumental in breaking the German naval Enigma Code during World War II, arguably saving millions of lives. Turing's achievements went unrecognised during his lifetime. Instead he ended up being treated as a common criminal, for being homosexual at a time when homosexual acts were a crime. In 1952, he was convicted of 'gross indecency' with another man and was forced to undergo so-called 'organo-therapy' - chemical castration. Two years later, he killed himself with cyanide, aged just 41. Alan Turing was driven to a terrible despair and early death by the nation he'd done so much to save.

Ed Stoppard as  Alan Turing
Henry Goodman as  Franz Greenbaum
Paul McGann as  Himself - Narrator (voice)
Ian Stewart as  Himself - University of Warwick (as Professor Ian Stewart)

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Reviews

Actuakers
2012/10/17

One of my all time favorites.

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VeteranLight
2012/10/18

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

... more
BelSports
2012/10/19

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

... more
Fatma Suarez
2012/10/20

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

... more
B24
2012/10/21

After having found this obscure docudrama on Netflix I decided to look in at its various reviews on IMDb. My curiosity in the first place came from watching The Imitation Game from 2015 and wondering what else was out there on the subject of Alan Turing. I had read a good deal about him over the years but was unaware that there were several other biopics based on his life story.Only a handful of reviews on this one, despite the popularity of others? I was intrigued. Ed Stoppard's credits on IMDb fail even to mention it. Was it really that insignificant, or a bad film?Not at all. It is a fine piece of work, combining fact and fiction in an artful and satisfying way...an excellent accompaniment to The Imitation Game for anyone who found, as I did, the more recent Cumberbatch portrayal mysterious and vague. Codebreaker for all its faults in not going far enough into the science of computing does indeed reflect the real man and those who were integral participants in his life and tragedy. It pulls no punches. Although the role of the psychoanalyst is a throwaway gimmick, I cannot fault the Stoppard performance. It informs cold documentation very well indeed.Nine out of ten marks without any hesitation.

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blanche-2
2012/10/22

It seems that people on IMDb didn't like this. I did. I thought it was about a lot more than Alan Turing being gay, and I appreciated seeing this after seeing "The Imitation Game." People keep saying they want more science. A lot of it would go over people's heads.It states right in the documentary that what made Turing a genius was the fact that, although others had broken the Enigma code, no one had ever broken the German navy code. Turing built a machine to do that. He also invented the idea of the computer years before its time, even talking about taking a computer to the park, like a i-phone. The documentary also shows some of his early inventions.The documentary's conceit is that Turing (played here by Ed Stoppard) is talking with a psychiatrist (Henry Goodman), as he goes over his life. There are interviews with the woman to whom he proposed, Joan, with the psychiatrist's daughters, Turing's nephew, and others.I think we learn more about Turing than just that he was gay. That he was gay is important because after serving his government and, according to Churchill, shortening the war by two years, he was chemically castrated. Pretty shabby treatment. The estrogen had an effect on his brain as well. And we know what happened in the end. A sad statement about the way heroes are treated.I think this is a good companion piece to "The Imitation Game," and I recommend it.

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digitalican
2012/10/23

I knew I was in trouble when this documentary pointed out that Alan Turing had borrowed "The Game of Logic," "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" from the library at the same time, but failed to point out that all three books were written by the same author, Lewis Carroll. That Carroll was both mathematician, observer, and writer of fiction would seem to be key to who Turing was, but was either unknown to or neglected by the filmmakers.The documentary continues along the same lines, superficially describing who Alan Turing was and what his contributions were without "connecting the dots" between his observational skills and his intellectual skills. It shows, at best, a Wikipedia-level knowledge of who he was. Even the title "Codebreaker" is misleading. Turing's contributions at Bletchley Park are barely dealt with and not in any way informatively dealt with. One could make the case, I suppose, that the title is a play on words, referring Turing's breaking of the gentleman's code of conduct, but that's not stated in the film.I felt like this was pretty much of a loss of an hour or so of my time.

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bpladybug
2012/10/24

This was a wonderfully crafted biopic about the mathematic genius who cracked the enigma code, wrote a paper laying out in original plan for computers, and studied math and biology in marking in animals and insects.He was persecuted, arrested, tried, convicted of homosexual acts in a 1950's England which was much like the persecution and ruination of Oscar Wilde. Alan Turing was a rare genius. Everyone should know his name.Notable scientists are interviewed. An actor plays Turning during sessions with his kind Psychiatrist. If you like science, or social justice, or GLBT history then you will enjoy this film. It flew by.

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