10/11/16 The Imitation Game (Movie)

    I just finished watching The Imitation Game on Netflix and it was a great movie on a man not given enough credit for the work he did.  Alan Turing, according to the movie, volunteered himself to work on the "enigma" project, not for love of country, but because it was a puzzle and he fancied himself able to solve the puzzle. 
    He carried with him a secret which unfortunately, back in the day, was punishable by prison, and that is that he was gay.  The movie follows him simultaneously through some sort of all boys school in his youth, during World War 2, and about twelve years later after everything has passed.  In his school days we see that he is very different from the other boys, and because of this, gets tormented and bullied until he befriends another boy.  They become very close, and even get into solving puzzles and ciphers.  They have their own secret code and can write notes to each other and not worry about getting caught.  At some point, the headmaster calls him to his office and informs Turing that his friend has passed away from bronchitis or something like that, there were no clues that I could see that the kid was sick, but still.
    During World War 2, he finds himself working a top secret mission where they are decoding or trying to decode messages from the Germans.  It is easy enough to catch a message, but everything is sent out encoded.  Turing then develops the first computer that allows the English to figure out what is being done by the Germans and by employing statistical analysis, they determine whether to intersect or not.  This ultimately helps topple the Germans, estimates say by two years and at a savings of 14 million people.  Turing should have been labeled a hero and given a "Do Not Fuck With" badge or something.
    In his life after the war, we catch up to him calling the cops because his house was broken into, but then he changes his mind.  The detective is not satisfied, goes prying, and does a most important task of labeling Turing "Indecent".  This in turn makes him have to go before a judge who gives him the option of two years in prison or take some pills that will make you "not gay".  In the closing credits, we read he ended up committing suicide in part from the pills he was taking.
    Again, we let religion guide the way for too long.  Genius, many times is found in people who are different.  Joe Six Pack is not going to be the guy who creates flying cars or space travel to other galaxies possible.  It's going to be some weird little person who thinks differently than the rest of us.  We need to embrace all the different people we live on this planet with.  We keep wanting everyone to be like us, but most of us are boring bricks who provide little, if anything to the rest of society.  Most of us are here to take care of our own selfish needs.  I know times have changed, but it is a shame for a hero of this type to have lived his life in shame and then for his life to have been cut so short, he barely made it to 41.