Breaking the Codes

Original title: Breaking the Code

TV Movie
19961996
1h 15m

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

654

YOUR RATING

Derek Jacobi, Richard Johnson, and Amanda Root in Breaking the Code (1996)

Biography

Drama

A biography of the English mathematician Alan Turing, who was one of the inventors of the digital computer and one of the key figures in the breaking of the Enigma code, used by the Germans ... Read allA biography of the English mathematician Alan Turing, who was one of the inventors of the digital computer and one of the key figures in the breaking of the Enigma code, used by the Germans to send secret orders to their U-boats in World War II. Turing was also a homosexual in Br... Read allA biography of the English mathematician Alan Turing, who was one of the inventors of the digital computer and one of the key figures in the breaking of the Enigma code, used by the Germans to send secret orders to their U-boats in World War II. Turing was also a homosexual in Britain at a time when this was illegal.

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

654

YOUR RATING

Director
- Herbert Wise
Writers
- Andrew Hodges(book "Alan Turing: The Enigma")
- Hugh Whitemore(play)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Awards
- 1 win & 3 nominations total

Trivia
The New York City production of "Breaking the Code" by Hugh Whitemore opened at the Neil Simon Theater in New York City on November 15, 1987 and ran for one hundred sixty-nine performances. Sir Derek Jacobi was nominated for the 1988 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and re-created his stage role in this movie production.

Quotes
Alan Turing: It's not breaking the code that matters - it's where you go from there.

Connections
Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #10.5 (1997)

User reviews12

Review

Top review

Brilliant performance

A moving depiction of the life of genius Alan Turing, the mathematician who broke Nazi Germany's Enigma code during WWII and who provided much of the theoretical foundation of modern computer science. Jacobi masterfully portrays Turing in all phases of his life, from his troubled days as a student to his career as codebreaker at Bletchley Park, and to his later suicide after having been hounded to the point of despair by an ungrateful and mistrustful government over his homosexuality.

If this film has a flaw at all, it's that Jacobi is physically unlike Turing in every way; there's absolutely no point of resemblance. But his performance is so absorbing that you don't really notice until it's all over with.

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