'Enigma' is based on Robert Harris' novel of the same title and is a competent if unadventurous reworking of the book. The story revolves around the top-secret British code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park. One of the great secrets of World War II, it only became known to the World in the late 1970s and it has taken until now for a film to be made of the story.
This is a fictional account and whilst the details are correct, the characters and plot were created for the story. Tom Jericho is a mathematician who broke into the German Naval 'Shark' cipher. With the ciphers broken, the British had been able to route convoys away from U-boats and continue the war. On a personal note, he became involved (on a very creaky bed) with the beautiful Claire and suffered a nervous breakdown from overwork. Jericho returns to Bletchley Park to find that Shark has changed. The British convoys cannot be protected from the U-Boats and the future of the War is at stake unless the codes can be broken. On a personal note, Claire is missing and the suspicion of murder points at Tom... then he discovers some mysterious ciphers from Eastern Europe.
With a gently plodding pace, quiet score and long lingering shots of the English countryside 'Enigma' looks and feels like an ITV drama on a Sunday evening. Only the smell of greasy popcorn and rancid hotdogs told me I wasn't in the comfort of my own living room and I should behave with some decorum.
A film that doesn't feel like a film isn't a bad thing, but at certain times 'Enigma' really did need to pick up the pace and run with the plot. Even the chases feel slow!
The movie does fumble its two main climaxes by revealing them too early and one straight after the other. The scenes in which the Shark cipher is broken and the mysterious codes cracked *should* have been exciting, but they were nothing more than interesting. A shame because the preceding scenes of the gathering U-boats were filled with tension.
And after these revelations the last 15 minutes feels a little superfluous, even though it should be leading to a point of high drama.
Script wise Tom Stoppard does a good job of condensing the book into a movie and manages to avoid the common problem of movies requiring detailed knowledge that needs to be explained to the audience. All too often these movies drop into neutral, you get an information dump, and then the movie picks up again. Here most of the knowledge is imparted in the dialogue, with one exception - unless you know how codes were broken, the cracking of Shark is going to make no sense whatsoever.
The dialogue feels right for the period and Stoppard has great fun with the reptilian Wigram (played with oily menace by Jeremy Northam), giving him most of the choice dialogue.
Acting, its a mixed bunch. Three great central perfomances by Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet and Northam are almost wiped out by the sheer badness of Saffron Burrows. If it hadn't been for Estella Warren's non-performance in 'Planet of the Apes', Ms. Burrows would walk away with the award for 'Most annoying female character in a motion picture'. A one note performance that will grate on your nerves and raise the question 'does she honestly think she can act?'
The film feels right, (although I doubt if Britain had fields of oil seed rape in the 1940s) and the drabness of the country comes across well. The coarse fabric, the terrible food and the backwardness of the country in comparison to America of the same period are all well produced and it is a big contrast to the gloss of U571 (which is not *that* bad a movie).
Plus points for a film that has Germans speaking German and not in zee very heavily aczented English. Ja?
A couple of minor problems that could have been resolved with some thought. It is hard to believe that security was quite so lax at Bletchley Park, if the movie is to be believed it is possible to borrow Britain's only Enigma machine from a secure room and no one will comment on it, likewise you can go to secure listening stations no one asks for authorisation? And in a country stricken with fuel rationing, where did they get all the petrol from? Still, compared to the plot holes in many movies these are small problems.
'Enigma' is a perfectly competent movie and should be on your list of films to watch. It's good to see a British film telling the story of Enigma (sorry America, but we did do it), but 'Enigma' isn't as good as it could have been. Still a British film that doesn't feature East End gangsters and/or Vinnie Jones? Definitely a plus.
This is a fictional account and whilst the details are correct, the characters and plot were created for the story. Tom Jericho is a mathematician who broke into the German Naval 'Shark' cipher. With the ciphers broken, the British had been able to route convoys away from U-boats and continue the war. On a personal note, he became involved (on a very creaky bed) with the beautiful Claire and suffered a nervous breakdown from overwork. Jericho returns to Bletchley Park to find that Shark has changed. The British convoys cannot be protected from the U-Boats and the future of the War is at stake unless the codes can be broken. On a personal note, Claire is missing and the suspicion of murder points at Tom... then he discovers some mysterious ciphers from Eastern Europe.
With a gently plodding pace, quiet score and long lingering shots of the English countryside 'Enigma' looks and feels like an ITV drama on a Sunday evening. Only the smell of greasy popcorn and rancid hotdogs told me I wasn't in the comfort of my own living room and I should behave with some decorum.
A film that doesn't feel like a film isn't a bad thing, but at certain times 'Enigma' really did need to pick up the pace and run with the plot. Even the chases feel slow!
The movie does fumble its two main climaxes by revealing them too early and one straight after the other. The scenes in which the Shark cipher is broken and the mysterious codes cracked *should* have been exciting, but they were nothing more than interesting. A shame because the preceding scenes of the gathering U-boats were filled with tension.
And after these revelations the last 15 minutes feels a little superfluous, even though it should be leading to a point of high drama.
Script wise Tom Stoppard does a good job of condensing the book into a movie and manages to avoid the common problem of movies requiring detailed knowledge that needs to be explained to the audience. All too often these movies drop into neutral, you get an information dump, and then the movie picks up again. Here most of the knowledge is imparted in the dialogue, with one exception - unless you know how codes were broken, the cracking of Shark is going to make no sense whatsoever.
The dialogue feels right for the period and Stoppard has great fun with the reptilian Wigram (played with oily menace by Jeremy Northam), giving him most of the choice dialogue.
Acting, its a mixed bunch. Three great central perfomances by Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet and Northam are almost wiped out by the sheer badness of Saffron Burrows. If it hadn't been for Estella Warren's non-performance in 'Planet of the Apes', Ms. Burrows would walk away with the award for 'Most annoying female character in a motion picture'. A one note performance that will grate on your nerves and raise the question 'does she honestly think she can act?'
The film feels right, (although I doubt if Britain had fields of oil seed rape in the 1940s) and the drabness of the country comes across well. The coarse fabric, the terrible food and the backwardness of the country in comparison to America of the same period are all well produced and it is a big contrast to the gloss of U571 (which is not *that* bad a movie).
Plus points for a film that has Germans speaking German and not in zee very heavily aczented English. Ja?
A couple of minor problems that could have been resolved with some thought. It is hard to believe that security was quite so lax at Bletchley Park, if the movie is to be believed it is possible to borrow Britain's only Enigma machine from a secure room and no one will comment on it, likewise you can go to secure listening stations no one asks for authorisation? And in a country stricken with fuel rationing, where did they get all the petrol from? Still, compared to the plot holes in many movies these are small problems.
'Enigma' is a perfectly competent movie and should be on your list of films to watch. It's good to see a British film telling the story of Enigma (sorry America, but we did do it), but 'Enigma' isn't as good as it could have been. Still a British film that doesn't feature East End gangsters and/or Vinnie Jones? Definitely a plus.