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Turing: Passing all our tests...
Apr. 3rd, 2015 09:27 pmOf brilliance. Of valour. Of love of King and Country in an age where neither particularly loved him for what he was. All brought to life by the incredible Benedict Cumberbatch in the telling of the story of the Imitation Game.
I do hope all the homophobes of the past week caught the screenshots near the end, which told us this:
Alan Turing's singlehanded cracking of the Enigma code can be credited with ending the Second World War at least two years early and saving the lives of 14 million Allied troops of the Greatest Generation, before he was tried and convicted of homosexuality, sentenced to hormonal castration, and ultimately driven to suicide at a far too young age.
Contrast that, if you will, with this:
Ronald Reagan's movie-star good looks kept him out of Second World War combat, preserving him for a series of forgettable Hollywood back-lot war movies that arguably saved no Allied troops whatsoever, before he was handpicked and drafted into Republicanism, twice elected to the Presidency, and ultimately became responsible for doing little if anything for the first generation of gay victims of AIDS.
The other performances, especially Keira Knightley's, were first-rate as well, but BC brought Turing back to life for us, much as Turing brought his own friend Christopher back to life for us, and the world is an infinitely better place for it.
It might even be worth baking him a cake, even if you disagree with what he was.
I do hope all the homophobes of the past week caught the screenshots near the end, which told us this:
Alan Turing's singlehanded cracking of the Enigma code can be credited with ending the Second World War at least two years early and saving the lives of 14 million Allied troops of the Greatest Generation, before he was tried and convicted of homosexuality, sentenced to hormonal castration, and ultimately driven to suicide at a far too young age.
Contrast that, if you will, with this:
Ronald Reagan's movie-star good looks kept him out of Second World War combat, preserving him for a series of forgettable Hollywood back-lot war movies that arguably saved no Allied troops whatsoever, before he was handpicked and drafted into Republicanism, twice elected to the Presidency, and ultimately became responsible for doing little if anything for the first generation of gay victims of AIDS.
The other performances, especially Keira Knightley's, were first-rate as well, but BC brought Turing back to life for us, much as Turing brought his own friend Christopher back to life for us, and the world is an infinitely better place for it.
It might even be worth baking him a cake, even if you disagree with what he was.