The Imitation Game

        During the most desperate days of WWII, the British scrambled to find a solution to the seemingly unbreakable code Enigma in which the Germans transmitted their troop movements.  They gathered the countries best linguists and cryptologists together in a race against the clock.  ‘The Imitation Game’ is the story of Alan Turing whose efforts to develop a machine to crack the code eventually laid the foundations for the modern day computer.  Undoubtedly a genius, but also eccentric, and probably burdened with undiagnosed autism and OCD, Alan Turning was both reviled, yet relied upon to solve this supposed insurmountable mystery.

I have many issues with biopics, not the least of which there is usually an agenda from the director and/or screenwriter.  We are given history through the prism of the person choosing ot tell the tale.  There is a desire to portray people as good or bad, victim or aggressor, where people rarely fall into such black and white categories.  The purveyor places too much spot light on some virtues while glossing over other uncomfortable facts or vice versa.  As far as a Hollywood biopic film goes, I feel the ‘Imitation Game’ did it’s best to show a balanced portrayal, but lacked any in-depth exploration of characters and their motivations.

This film falls squarely on the shoulders of another magnificent performance by Benedict Cumberbatch.  Very few people can make odd eccentricity appear as appealing as Cumberbatch.  He effortlessly captures the oddness of the character without making him overly sympathetic.  Of course every story seems to require a love interest and Keira Knightley gives a perfunctory performance as his lab assistant/fiancee Joan.  The character is rather two dimensional and other than impressing Turing during a mathematics test and acting as a beard to cover his homosexuality, I do not know what dimension she really brought to the story.  For a woman of that time period to be accepted to a Top Secret intelligence organization, I have to believe there is a more robust character that could have been explored other than accepting companion.

Artistically, I admired the film’s non-linear storyline that jumped between before, during, and after the war.  The transitions flowed smoothly and only enhanced the understanding of the overall narrative.  The theme that ‘Things we never imagine come from people we never imagine anything from’ resonates throughout the film, however there is little redemption for Allan’s in his oddities.  His life is one of exile, loneliness, and persecution.  His great achievement and the countless lives he probably saved did nothing to protect him from a society that deemed him deviant.  

I found his perceived deviance and persecution in a conservative post-war British society to be almost as interesting, if not more interesting, than the story of his cracking the Enigma code.  Genius comes in many forms and not always in the manner we wish it would.  The same oddness that obsessed him to the point of mania to crack the code are the same attributes which caused society to shun him.  We try to label people so that we may comfortably place them into good and bad categories, but people don’t fit easily into prescribed categories.  Celebrity and historical figures that we canonize often fall from the publics esteem due to scandal and human weakness, while people we consider monsters are also capable of acts of human kindness and compassion that don’t fit the image we have of them.  People are multidimensional and ‘The Imitation Game’ does an effective job at showing the price of non-conformity.

I’ll confess that I know very little of Allan Turing outside this film.  The movie accomplishes it’s goal of wanting me to learn more.  It’s an impressive film, but not one that I feel would have achieved Oscar level prominence had it not been for the power of Benedict Cumberbatch.  He’s a rising star that already shines more brightly than most of the established talent out there.  He’s already been nabbed for Marvel’s upcoming Dr Strange role, so we know he’s set for life, but I don’t think we have begun to see the great things that will be coming from him in the future. 

If you want to see a masterful performance in a pretty good film, then I recommend ‘The Imitation Game’

I give this film *** stars out of four

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi969255961?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_3

American Sniper

        On it’s way to a record January opening this weekend, ‘American Sniper’ (while snubbed by the Golden Globes) appears to be on the path to be the Oscar darling this year.  Whether that status is merited by Clint Eastwood’s latest endeavor is up to the viewer to decide, but I will say that as Clint Eastwood becomes firmly ensconced in his 80’s, he is producing some of the best work of his life.  I’ll go further to say that this is Bradley Cooper’s most powerful and skillful performance to date.  I think one of the reasons for this film’s success is that movie goers are not looking for an ambiguous message about our struggles in the Middle East.  With the challenges of ISIS and the recent Charlie Hebdo attacks, this film stands in stark contrast with a man laser focused on what he feels must be done with little regard to the complexities of the Middle East conflict at large.  Clint Eastwood takes ‘American Sniper’ to a surprising level of apoliticalness as it examines the life and psyche of America’s most lethal sniper; Chris Kyle.

Chris Kyle is credited with 160 official kills in Iraq.  Clint Eastwood paints the portrait of a cowboy and hunter from Texas who was so affected by 9/11 that he joined the Navy Seals at the relatively old age of 30.  Chris is the very portrait of a Texan good ole boy and has a basic, yet very clear view, of what he considers right and wrong.  Raised in a harsh, conservative household, Chris’s sense of duty and patriotism left him no choice than to go and serve his country.  Redneck to the point of parody, one must admire Chris Kyle’s love of country and sense of duty if nothing else.

What i found impressive about this film is that Eastwood spends little time wrestling with complex issues or even questions of the morality of Chris’s line of work.  Instead, it is a character study of the man and what drove him.  I marveled at the dichotomy of how a good natured country boy could also be a lethal killing machine and not seem to have any doubt about his calling.  The emotional baggage he carried home with him had more to do with the horrors he saw and the guilt that he couldn’t save more of his comrades than the amount of carnage he was responsible for.  

I am not a fan of biopics as I find their usual documentary style to be dull with the perspective slant of the story teller.  This is definitely true of ‘American Sniper’.  What I found impressive was the art of Eastward’s storytelling.  His use of long silences and close ups were hypnotic.  He often replaced action and explosions (not that there weren’t plenty of those) with vacuum and the results were more riveting than any fire fight could have portrayed.  His compare and contrast of the horror of war and Kyle’s life back home were stark.  Some of the most sobering scenes were when Chris was talking with family back home via satellite phone while the carnage and war was going on around him.

Sienna Miller plays Chris’s wife Taya.  This character was not developed near well enough and was used basically as someone to create emotional conflict and drama with Chris and allowed us to more empathize with him.  From interviews I’ve seen with her, I feel her role was much broader and would have been interesting to delve in more deeply.  This film was squarely about Chris and at 2.5 hours, I don’t think Eastwood could have fit in much more.

I think this film will be intense and powerful for everyone who watches.  The impact will be more significant if one is able to set aside their political prisms and view this from a character study point of view.  Eastwood illustrates the realities of what is happening in the Middle East without trying to rationalize or judge U.S. policies. I can see why this film is resonating in America right now as clarity can be attractive during complex times even if it is not always what we consider ‘correct’.  Whether you agree with him or not, Chris Kyle saw the world clearly from his perspective and never wavered from his values no matter what he saw or did.  Combine that with Bradley Cooper's incredibly emotional and powerful performance, the best of his career, and you have a film that will be buzzed about during the Oscars.

I give this film *** out of four stars

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3484134937?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_14

Unbroken

       Sometimes, there are movies that you can admire and respect. Especially when you think it’s a story worth being told.  ‘Unbroken’ is a film that I think good things deserved to be said about it, but at the same time, I will say that I did not particularly enjoy this movie nor did I feel inspired, which is what I think the intention of the film was.  Angelina Jolie is known for her dark visions of human suffering in her films and this one is no exception.  It feels like she is trying to inspire people by illustrating survival in the most inhumane conditions, but instead of being inspiring and uplifting, the film drains the spirit and the payoff is not enough to compensate for a film that takes about 45 minutes too long dwelling on the suffering of a prisoner of war.

The story showcases the true story of Olympian Louis Zamperini (played by Jack O’Connell), who was shot down over the South Pacific in World War II.  After surviving 47 days afloat at sea, he is found by the Japanese who intern him in a Japanese concentration camp run by a sadistic commandant know to the prisoners as ‘The Bird’ (Takamasa Ishihara).  Jolie does a skillful job developing a portrait of the life of Zampernini, steeped in rich 1930’s Americana.  A troubled youth from an immigrant family who went on to represent our country in the Olympics, we invest ourselves emotionally in Louis as he represents the American spirit of yesteryear. The times spent exploring this part of his life was the most rewarding part of the film.  Unfortunately, the film dwells on his trials at sea and as a POW much longer than it should have.  I realize that the film is about the indomitable  human spirit and the ability of this extraordinary man to survive conditions that would break most, but as I stated earlier, it goes on way to long.  The extended scenes of physical and mental torture become an exercise in morbid voyeurism which eventually breaks the viewer.  By the time we are supposed to be relieved and uplifted, we have already been beaten down by the film’s gravitas.

There are many things to like about this film.  Jolie shows she has the ability to use film as a canvas and paint a powerful picture.  Jack O’Connell does a skillfully understated, yet powerful performance as Zamperini.  He captures the parlance of the times effortlessly as well paint a portrait of an ordinary person who is also exceptional.  I am undecided about Takamasa Ishihara portrayal of the sadistic Commandant.  Ishihara is obviously a skillful actor, but his portrayal lacked the true villainy needed to make him a truly fearsome character.

I am glad that Angelina Jolie is taking the reigns of making films.  Even though her visions are a bit morbid for my tastes, she tells stories that should be told.  However, from a movie going experience point of view, excessive dwelling on human suffering is not always the best way to capture the entertainment dollar, nor is it a way to inspire the masses.  I have nothing but respect for her international work with the UN and I believe her experience with human suffering is what spurs her into action, but if you are looking for escapism, this is not necessarily the venue for that.

I recommend going to see this film as it is a great story of an American hero and the survival of the human spirit.  Keep in mind that this is not a light hearted or uplifting holiday movie.  If you know what you are getting into it is fine for what it is.  

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1002549017?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_1