Breaking the Code

This curious telemovie has a number of fierce devotees, including some who insist it's a better account of Alan Turing than the seriously over-hyped Hollywood version, The Imitation Game. In fact, it's a fairly unimaginative adaptation of a ponderous and often clunky stage play, and one that hasn't dated at all well. The chief virtue is supposedly Derek Jacobi's performance as Turing, but, truth be told, Jacobi - accomplished and committed as he is to the role - is as far from the real Turing as Cumberbatch's mannered, showy turn in Imitation Game. For one thing, Jacobi is as unlike Turing physically as it's possible to be. He's also twenty years older than Turing was when he died, and nearly twice the age Turing was when he was code-breaking at Bletchley Park. Ultimately, both versions make less of Turing's contribution to computing and code-breaking than they should. Where Imitation Game becomes preoccupied with manufacturing a romance with Joan Clarke that never was, Breaking The Code makes Turing's homosexuality THE BIG PROBLEM in a way that renders him tortured and tragic. In fact, Turing never was tortured about his sexuality; he was open and unapologetic in ways that were well ahead of his time. Even ahead of the prevailing attitudes in this 1980s telling of his tale. And yet, when it matters most the teleplay makes very little of the impact Turing's conviction for indecent acts had on his professional and personal life. It also fails to make much of the nature of his death (suicide, some say murder), which one would have thought was a gift to any dramatist. Overall, Breaking The Code is not so offensively phoney has The Imitation Game, but more or less equally unsatisfying. A definitive film biography of Turing is remains to be made.

It all goes to show the power of Hollywoodification and some star glitz. I have just come here from submitting a review of Moore's "The Imitation Game", which I thought a fairly pathetic excuse of a historical drama, with some scenes at the level of adolescent petulance. Yet this movie currently enjoys an overall reviewer rating of 8.0, greater than the 7.3 provided by a mere 10 users to "Breaking the Code". Well let me set the record straight that Breaking the Code may have been "just" a TV movie, and it may not have had an all-star cast, and it may not have contained ludicrous histrionics obviously fabricated by a facile writer, and it may not have been pushed upon the world with the full power of Hollywood's promotional machine. But for all that, it is a far, far better drama. It portrays Turing credibly, it describes how Enigma was broken in a simplified, but sensible way, it shows with sensitivity the effect on Turing of prosecution for homosexuality. The Imitation Game has 719 user reviews, Breaking the Code has 11, including mine (shaking head with disgust).

On Octuber 7th, the United States went to war with Afganistan and tried to learn as much about the Tiliban as possible. Yet a decade later, America is no closer to victory than when it began. One of the Principal reasons for the slow progress is because the American military has banned it's gay cryptographers from service to it's country. It seems little has been learned from past mistakes such as the Brisish made during world War II. Back then it was a remarkable individual named Alan Turing, a British mathematician and cryptanalyst who Broke the mysterious German Egnima Machine and thus brought the War to a speedy end. In this film called " Breaking the Code " Derek Jacobi, plays Alan Turing who's insights and expertise solved that elusive problem. The life of Turing is prime example of what world government can do to destroy people who threaten the moral fiber of a country. Yet the movie itself is a half baked attempt to render the great man's life on film. Glossing over his life, it jumps from his youth to his later life stopping briefly to remind audiences of his hidden world as a reclusive gay individual. Alun Armstrong plays Mick Ross a British Inspector who investigates a minor robbery and discovers Turning's homosexuality, causing him to lose his anonymity and thus brings him to the pubic's attention, bringing him shame and ridicule. William Mannering plays a youthful Alan Turing, living with his mother who learns of his personal problems and the legal effects of the law. The film tries it's best to mix his past with his war-time achievements and falls short due to it's half handed attempt. Still, Jacobi is brilliant as the misunderstood scientist who has to undergo Chemical castration as part of his criminal sentence. This is a must movie for all his fans and I found it extremely well done. I easily recommend it to anyone studying the life Alan Turning. ****

I came to this film thinking it would be about the code-breaking element of Alan Turing's life, his work on the famous Enigma code and computers and it took me a minute to get into the fact that the film is actually much more about him as a man in the later stages of his life. In this regard the film actually turns out to be more interesting than it would have been if it just focused on the work side of the man; certainly it serves up more for the writers and lead actor to work with.

I think it was a coincidence but the film was shown recently on BBC4 around the time that Channel 4 was marking the 40th anniversary of the legalisation of male homosexuality in the UK, which is a theme that is central in this film. The material brings out the genius and imagination of Turing but also the tragic confession that saw his life under threat. The film leaves us in no doubt that Turing was fortunate in his situation but that the illegal nature of his (now commonplace) sexual relationship saw his life threatened regardless of what he had done in the past.

It is this truth and this struggle that the film focuses on and it makes it more interesting as a result. Wise's direction is quite patient and still, which makes the film feel a little stagy and slow but works in the way it sits back and allows the cast to work. Specifically this serves Derek Jacobi well because his performance is impressive throughout, whether it is his passion for his subject or his sense of panic when he realises he has incriminated himself, he is convincing. Support is good from Armstrong, Scales, Pinter and others but the film does belong to Jacobi.

Overall then this is a slow film that may frustrate some viewers with its pace or the way that it overlooks Turings work in favour of him as a man. This does work though and makes for an interesting character piece and, other than the pace the only issue I had with it was the fact that the film concludes with the news that Turing was later recognised by having part of a roundabout in Manchester named after him. Surely it would have been better to have closed the film by remembering his contribution rather than this rather weak platitude?

I'm not interested in mathematics. Or the history of the computer. Or indeed, homosexual politics. But I am concerned with the talents, vicissitudes, suffering, blossoming, and achievements of human beings. And this is a tale full of humanity - and drama, as that humanity, and the talents and nature of Alan Turing are beaten down. The assault and damnation of his sexual orientation amount to a pervasive crime. It's about as dramatic a dynamic as you can find. And at the centre of it all: Derek Jacobi's remarkable performance. Forget I Claudius and Hamlet, this is his finest hour. Characteristically, he effortlessly takes us into the heart of Turing and allows us to feel his cleverness and his pain. His tender, acutely-observed performance induces us to rage, rage against the moon as this heroic character is beleaguered by the mores of the era, and in doing so, the deft Jacobi has somehow made the example of Turing one to benefit, push and shame mankind, as well as to inspire it to greater aspirations. A magnificent story, a magnificent, classic production, and an insurmountable performance at its heart.