The Imitation Game written by Gram Moore and directed by Morten Tyldum, stars real life historical figure Alan Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. The story follows both Turing and his team of fellow great British minds through their journey to cracking the thought to be impossible to crack Nazi code Enigma, and thus leading Germany to their downfall from behind closed doors.

Over the course of the film Turing faces not only a struggle to gain respect from his colleagues due to his little to no social skills or desire to be liked, but due to his homosexuality, which at the time was against English law, as well.

After being hired at Britain’s top secret government cypher and code program at Bletchley park for his practically inhuman problem solving and mathematic skills, he and his team battle against the clock as the allies fight for freedom against Germany becomes more and more desperate by the day.

After breaking Enigma with what we know today as the world’s first computer, designed and built by Turing himself, the group is then burdened with keeping their accomplishment a secret not only from Germany, but from some of the highest branches of their own government as well, all so the Germans won’t change their secretly broken system.  From here on their work becomes a delicate balancing act.  On one hand they must win enough battles to win the war and save as many lives as possible, but on the other they must lose enough so as not to arouse suspicion.

It is only because of the team’s hidden genius that approximately two years were shaved off the war saving more than fourteen million lives.  Furthermore it is due to the ground work Alan Turing laid for generations to come that we now have the modern computers of today.  Unfortunately after an incredibly painful final year of his life undergoing government mandated hormonal therapy as “treatment” for his homosexuality, on June 7th 1956 Alan Turing took his own life.

Overall the story is not only both well written and acted, but does a phenomenal job of shedding light on the mistreatment of homosexuals in the 1950’s and of beautifully endorsing the simple, yet nearly impossible to pursue message that is “stay different.”