January 5, 2015 -- This film about British code breakers in World War II is more about the personal story of the head of this famous code-breaking group, Alan Turing (played by Benedict Cumberbatch of “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

Much of the movie is about Turing's personal history as a homosexual and his great contributions in breaking the German codes developed through the “Enigma Machine,” a device which could produce highly complex codes that were extremely hard to decipher. The electric powered device, consisting of wheels and different circuit combinations, was set to different configurations daily, making decryption speed a high priority for the allies in World War II.

Turing helped to develop a machine, called a digital computer in the movie (also known as a “bombe”) which could quickly decode messages sent by the Enigma devices used by the German armed forces. Turing's efforts to develop this machine are depicted in the movie as being resisted by the military because of the cost and difficulty of construction. In the movie, Turing is depicted as being at least partly autistic and very difficult to work with.

While recruiting new code breakers, Turing becomes interested in a young woman, Joan Clarke, who is among the brightest of the new recruits. Because she is a woman, she doesn't get the respect afforded the male code-breakers, but Turing sees only her ability. When Clarke's parents propose to take her away from the code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park, Turing proposes marriage to her to keep her with him.

Turing's dealings with his superiors and spies while trying to keep his homosexuality a secret (homosexuality was illegal in England at this time) take up a lot of the film. The relationship between Turing and Clarke is a fascinating one, which is somewhat clouded by the spy intrigue in the story (which includes a Soviet double agent). While most of Turing's team of code-breakers is not really fleshed out in the film, Turing and Clarke certainly are.

Yet another subplot in the movie takes place several years after the war involving a police investigation into Turing which results in his conviction for violating laws regarding homosexual activities. A conversation between Turing and Detective Robert Nock (Rory Kinnear of “Skyfall”) is used as a framework for Turing to tell the story about his activities before and during the war. Flashbacks include Turing's activities as a youth during school.

The story, though considerably altered to make it more dramatic, is an interesting one, and Turing and Clarke's relationship is compelling in the film. The movie shows Turing as the first person to break the Enigma code by building a machine to help decipher the coded messages. The truth of the matter, however, is that Enigma machine codes were first broken by the Polish Cipher Bureau in 1932. By the time World War II had started, the Germans had greatly improved on the old Enigma designs, which date back to the end of World War I.

Turing's “bombe” (decoding machine) was essentially a far more complicated version of Polish bombes built before the war to decipher Enigma codes. The Poles had reverse-engineered the German military Enigma machines and built their own copies, as well as machines to aide in breaking the codes. All this information was shared with British and French intelligence.

Turing's contribution to the war effort was great, however. His code-breaking team is thought to have shortened World War II by up to two years. Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley both give great performances in this film. Morten Tyldum does a fine job putting this film together (if you haven't seen his earlier film, “Headhunters,” check it out). This film rates a B+.

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