The Imitation Game

Knightley and Cumberbatch in 'The Imitation Game'

 

In fact, I am not really into movies; therefore, in my entire life for almost 60 years, I don't watch a lot of movies. This became my excuse to say that just two days ago -- April 21 2026 -- I 'found' a movie entitled THE IMITATION GAME, which was released in 2014 when scrolling youtube. 2 actors playing there -- Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley -- attracted me more to watch it.

 

The beginning note appeared saying that the movie was based on a true story made me feel excited, I became more dumbfounded when finding out that Benedict played as Alan Turing, a mathematician who invented computer! (pardon me for being so 'late' to know and watch this movie! Lol) o my god. I remember the time when I let myself spend hours a day on one social media; some people mentioned Alan Turing's name as a whiz, some others despised him as being a gay. (FYI, this is in Indonesia.) this kinda useless 'debate' went on and on and on. People who love using this latest technology but despise homosexuality keep creating excuses to accept the fact that Turing was one important persona in inventing computer.

 

The first impression Turing -- or you can say Cumberbatch -- gave me in the beginning of the movie was that this man was really a smart cookie, a prodigy that was on par with Einstein! The way the movie illustrated Turing as a nerd who was not so social justified my idea that a genius was usually a nerd, despite the fact that some people say the real Turing was not that nerd as Turing in this movie.

 

The next impression was heart-breaking for me: when I knew that Turing was punished for his being homosexual by the British government. (Being a homosexual was considered a criminal in British law back then.) How the British government didn't appreciate Turing for what he had done -- to break the code of Enigma that resulted in the shorter period of the WW was almost impossible for me. The ability of Turing (and his co-workers) to decode Enigma -- that resulted in saving thousands of lives -- didn't help to save him from being injected with 'hormone therapy' to 'cure' his homosexuality. (so, in fact, homosexuality was analogous with crime or disease?)

 

13 years after Turing passing, the British government passed the Sexual Offences Act, decriminalizing homosexual acts in private between two consenting men over 21 in England and Wales.

 

In 2009 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking on behalf of the British government, publicly apologized for Turing's "utterly unfair" treatment.

 

46 years after the Sexual Offences Act passed, Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing aroyal pardon.

 

And just yesterday, in 2026, I happened to read a thread where (Indonesian) people still considered homosexuality a disease. More than a thousand likes on the thread, and hundreds of comments agreed with it. (sigh ~~)

 

PT56 13.53 23 April 2026

 

Alan Turing