[lifeisstillgood]

It was not exactly inaccurate, more dumbed down. The film covered the basics well I thought, his early life, the impact of a relationship with a boy named "Christopher", the use of Bombe in breaking Enigma and the secrecy needed to keep the code-breaking from everyone. His personal life was I thought fair - it certainly compared role of women and gay men, and said something about need for brain not brawn.

It did dumb down in some horrible areas however. There was a overdone conflict between him and his superiors and peers - until they too realised he was right in Hollywood fashion. The actual code breaking was ... "my god what if they put Heil Hitler at the end of each message. We could use the new computer you have built to break the message and then put the play on right here."

But to be fair I don't think even I would have sat through ten minutes of Cumberbatch explaining cipher theory to get a proper grip on that.

Overall, its a good way to introduce the kids to the origin of computers, the need to stick to your principles, and prejudice is bad.

[ChrisArchitect]

Right, tough to convey more of the true story and character of Turing in a 2 hr film. But my takeaways were a few memorable things like the moment of pure achievement/problem solving joy that any engineer/dev around here can relate to - collective joy at cracking a puzzle. I felt it.

And the pain that Turing had later in the film/in his life - I felt that too. Cumberbatch's weird self, and the overbearing lone/nerd vibe they gave Turing aside, they tried to convey the pain and sadness and I think it was portrayed enough for the audience to feel it and sympathize.

Could be argued that the film contributed to this path that he's now going to be on the banknote perhaps?

[ragnese]

I was very disappointed in the portrayal of "Christopher"!

They have him say "boy" but they never clarify that the "boy" was 19 years old. I have little doubt that some people left the movie thinking that Turing was a pedophile.

[lifeisstillgood]

Not that boy - Turing had a ... love affair (?) / crush (?) on a fellow school student (christopher) in their teens at boarding school. The boy died tragically during a summer vacation, having a profound effect on Turing.

Christopher was the name he gave to the first Bombe I think.

I don't think any part of the film implied pedophilia - not at all.

NB - all above is from memory.

[ragnese]

I'm sorry- I had my wires crossed.

I'm also speaking from memory, but I remember being pretty upset that they weren't more explicit about his crime being strictly homosexuality and not about the partner's age.

I found the clip on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RQBPs5Dkzg

The only actual description of his crime, if I recall, was that single sentence: "[...] accused of intriguing a young man to touch my penis [...]" at about 50 seconds into that clip.

I don't know. Maybe not everyone would interpret that description badly, but it doesn't even sound consensual to me. It sounds like he's describing himself as being accused of manipulating a child.