That was absolutely brilliantly done

It was an excellent film, and Benedict Cumberbatch did a remarkable job as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. I've seen the two films that were in the previews as well--Philomena and The King's Speech, both excellent. This was even better. All I can say is, wow. I knew the basics of Turing's life, but the film really brought it all to life. And it's so sad that someone so brilliant, who saved countless lives through his work, and contributed so much to what we now consider computer science (which has revolutionised our lives, so much so that we carry handheld computers with us and call them smart phones) was forced choose between prison (which would have interrupted his work) or to undergo chemical castration (he chose the latter) all because of prevailing attitudes regarding homosexuality at the time. Alan Turing died when he was 41 years old--8 years younger than I am--officially of suicide, although some have argued for accidental cyanide poisoning. It's sad, and even though he was pardoned years later and his story came out, I think the important thing is that we have learned that different doesn't mean bad, and that we should embrace differences as very basic to our humanity. Just because someone thinks differently, to paraphrase the movie's dialogue a bit, does not mean they do not think; just because someone has different preferences, does not make them less human.