The Imitation Game (12)

JUST like the Enigma Code, Alan Turing was hard to crack.

Although it is disputed by some, the legendary computer scientist and mathematician was thought to have Asperger's syndrome and that is how he portrayed in The Imitation Game.

Morten Tyldum's excellent film sees Turing played as a troubled genius by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Turing takes everything literally, cannot understand jokes and metaphors and struggles to relate to the people around him.

But this true story, which was kept top secret for 50 years, is about how he was key to breaking coded messages intercepted from the Nazis during the Second World War.

The Imitation Game is an interesting wartime film because it is a far cry from the battlefield and yet the stakes could not be higher.

Endorsed by Churchill himself, Turing designed a machine – and a forerunner to today's computers – that could break 3,000 Enigma codes a day at Bletchley Park.

His work is thought to have reduced the length of the war by two years and saved 14 million lives.

And yet this film is not about the war but about Turing himself.

Weaving from his unhappy boarding school years to the war and his later persecution for his homosexuality, The Imitation Game explores how we treat our heroes.

Cumberbatch is brilliant as Turing, adding depth to his portrayal of a fascinating man.

That is until the closing, rushed scenes, when he seems miraculously cured of Asperger's.

There are also a few moments that are added for dramatic effect which are unbelievable.

But for a film about science and codes this is a very human story and hugely inspirational.