A reflection on Tyldum's 'The Imitation Game'

Am I a computer?

The Imitation Game is a war film, but the war is quiet. The tank's grinding gears and rough tread are the computer's whirring calculations and delicate tabulations. Any scenes of combat are black and white stock news footage. There is the war we know from The Longest Day, The History Channel, and Saving Private Ryan. And, for the most part, the war we know is one courage and virtue, of right versus wrong. The Imitation Game therefore is also, as the title suggests, about deception. And, to this point, Alan Turing's (Benedict Cumberbatch) machine named Christopher is housed in a barn, like some strange and futuristic horse.