Tmdonahue, that's a good comparison between Hugh Whitemore's ''Breaking the Code'' and Graham Moore's ''The Imitation Game.'' The play, which was adapted by the BBC and can be seen on YouTube, focuses more on Turing's personal life and background. But the film is more about Turing's World War II involvement with cracking the Enigma Code.
The movie plays fast and loose with the facts. Turing was NOT the first person to crack the code; the Polish did it first. But Turing did develop a machine that cracked it quicker. And he didn't do it largely alone, as the movie depicts. Nor did he name his machine after a boyhood crush. (Just another sentimental invention by Moore.)
The film says it's based on Andrew Hodges' acclaimed bio of Turing, ''The Imitation Game,'' but Hodges says he was ''alarmed'' by the many historical inaccuracies in Moore's screenplay even before shooting began.
One notable distinction between the 1986 play and the 2014 movie is the play's frank depiction of Turing and the young man he takes in. Turing isn't afraid to try to touch him and show affection. But the movie keeps Turing in the closet. He acknowledges he's ''been with men,'' but there are no scenes of Turing with that young man, who ultimately led to his arrest, or anyone else. No touching, nothing.
In the movie's latest Oscar campaign, it implores viewers to acknowledge Turing's great efforts to help end World War II and recognize a hero who was ''persecuted for his sexuality.'' Turing was arrested for ''gross indecency,'' which in 1894 was called the ''love that dare not speak its name.'' Yet in 2015, about 120 years later, a major motion picture about Turing treats a gay relationship as a ''love that dare not be shown on-screen.''
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