The Codebreaker

"The Codebreaker" is a documentary from "The American Experience" about a woman who was never heralded in life despite her many contributions to law enforcement and the US war efforts. Elizabeth Smith Friedman was a Quaker woman who managed to go to college during an era when very few women attended. After graduation, she was hired by an eccentric millionaire to work on a project involving cyphers. From that, she went on to work with the government...first as a code-breaker for the US Coast Guard and their war with organized crime and later in deciphering Axis codes during WWII. She was in many ways a remarkable woman but because what she did was so secret, her service wasn't recognize until decades after her death. Overall, a most unusual and inspiring film...one that stands out even among other "American Experience" documentaries. Very well made and interesting.

My only complaint about the film is that it clearly credits Elizabeth for her many accomplishments but it also makes it sound as if she single-handedly cracked all the enemy codes. Other folks managed to do important code-breaking, such as the people who cracked the Japanese code...which led to the US victory at Midway.

Elizebeth Friedman's work of decrypting coded radio messages helped tip the balances of World Wars and take down organized crime during the Prohibition Era. She saved tens of thousands of lives; yet, all of it was classified by the US government for 62 years as her superiors took credit for her achievements.

This very interesting and thought-provoking documentary follows Elizebeth's happenstance breakthrough into the world of cryptography, finding love while deciphering Shakespeare and her dedication as a wife and pioneering cryptoanalyst amongst an environment that was quite unfair towards women.

This is a fascinating and eye-opening program, and very well done.

Even if you've seen a lot of code-breaking stuff like the Bletchley Circle programs and the WWII resistance coders and Enigma Code stuff, this adds new, fresh, and important layers to the field of crucial codebreakers we don't know about, and women codebreakers who were never ever given their due or even close to sufficient pay.

This program is fresh and will really grab you. Check it out.