Genre: Romance / Thriller
Length: 1h 53m 40s
Director: Michael Apted
Tagline: Unlock the secret
Plot outline: During the heart of World War II, in March of 1943, cryptoanalysts at Britain's code-breaking center have discovered to their horror that Nazi U-boats have changed their Enigma Code. Authorities enlist the help of a brilliant young man named Tom Jericho (played by Dougray Scott) to help them break the code again. The possibility of a spy within the British code-breakers' ranks looms and Tom's love, Claire (Saffron Burrows), has disappeared. To solve the mysteries, Tom recruits Claire's best friend, Hester Wallace (Kate Winslet). In investigating Claire's personal life, the pair discovers personal and international betrayals. Summary written by Anna {dimenxia@yahoo.com}
Comment: For those weaned on an endless succession of cinematic war and espionage thrillers where the directors can not function without ordnance advisers to insure that the latest weaponry is repetitively employed, "Enigma" may be a slowdown and a disappointment. Based on a novel of the same name, and fairly well following its plot, "Enigma" both tells the story of Britain's Bletchley Park cryptologists, mostly math geniuses recruited from Oxford and Cambridge, while spinning a complementary fictional adventure. Sir Winston Churchill once said with telling insight that "In war-time, truth is so precious she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." In an age not so long ago when men and women honored without second thought their legal and moral obligation to keep state secrets safe the story of the extraordinarily successful codebreaking by Bletchley Park civilians and military personnel long remained unknown. Wizards (mostly men but with a sprinkling of women) who had broken codes and many young women who had engaged in endless and often boring small tasks whose importance was barely sensed went on with their postwar lives with nary a word about their wartime experiences. For the codebreakers there were no medals, no citations. A book decades after the war gave the first inkling of the Government Code and Cypher School housed at the converted estate not very far from London. Sir Winston went to his grave keeping the secret of wartime codebreaking and garnering lavish praise for his six-volume history of the conflict (in part an autobiography) which virtually denies to intelligence units and operations any credit for the military triumph. In retrospect, he authored somewhat potted history which insured that the "bodyguard of lies" would be at full strength for a long time (the emerging Cold War had much to do with the continued secrecy about Bletchley Park). In "Enigma" the viewer, more likely than not knowing relatively little or nothing about cryptology, gets a quick lesson in the science of codebreaking as it then existed. The German Enigma machine was the cryptology marvel of its day and its capture by Polish soldiers without the Germans being aware of the loss truly gave British and then American top commanders much valuable data. In the movie the codebreaking centers on the ongoing and crucial Battle of the Atlantic where Ultra intercepts (as the products of Enigma codebreaking were called) made a significant difference (with the invasion of Europe Enigma intercepts were less important as the Wehrmacht depended more on non-interceptible landline transmissions rather than radioed messages). Douglas Scott is very good as Tom Jericho, a brilliant cryptoanalyst recovering from one nervous breakdown and teetering, so it seems, on its successor. He battles wits with a counterintelligence agent named Wigram, Jeremy Northram, who seems a bit too sarcastic to be effective in rooting out possible treason at Bletchley. Heather, played by Kate Winslet, Tom's at first reluctant ally and then serious love interest, is indispensable to the story and Ms. Winslet acts with quiet depth. She's very effective, quite different from her flamboyant and intellectual screen presence recently as the young Iris Murdoch. There is action here but the most interesting battle is that fought by brilliant minds with little time and under almost unbelievable pressures. The world of Bletchley may best be realized by reading some of the excellent books about codebreaking in World War II (although not about Bletchley per se Leo Marks's "Between Silk and Cyanide" is one of the very best and most informative memoirs of the world of codes and cyphers). "Enigma" fills an important gap in the cinematic treatment of the war. And it's beautifully filmed adding to the excellent portrayals.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
Country: UK
Language:
Subtitels: No ()
DVDs: 1
IMDB address
| Actors: | ||
| Dougray Scott | as | Tom Jericho |
| Kate Winslet | as | Hester Wallace |
| Saffron Burrows | as | Claire Romilly |
| Jeremy Northam | as | Wigram |