Enigma won't have you on the edge of your seat, unless you've dropped something during the film and you're looking on the floor for it of course.
I read the book a few years ago (Robert Harris) and it's a really gripping read. Perhaps my enjoyment of the film was spoilt knowing the plot already?
The story is set during World War II in Bletchley Park, home of the British intelligence code cracking service. Historically this is true, there was such a centre which cracked German codes and it did make a tremendous effort in helping to win the war, particularly with tracking u-boat movements and during the desert campaign in North Africa.
Tom Jericho (Dougray Scott) plays a mathematician who having fallen in love with Claire (Saffron Burrows) has a breakdown when it all goes horribly pear-shaped and is shipped off to recuperate. He is drafted back in when it would appear that the Germans have cottoned onto the fact that the British have cracked their codes and have changed tack. Jericho is desperately needed to help decipher the new codes and save a huge convey destined from the US to Britain.
Meanwhile, Claire has disappeared mysteriously and no-one knows her whereabouts, her flatmate Hester (Kate Winslet) included. Enter Wigram (Jeremy Northam) who works for the secret service, he knows that there is a spy at Bletchley Park and it's his job to root them out.
There are three major threads to the film:
1. Where's Claire? 2. Who's the spy? 3. Can they break the code in time?
The acting is pretty good, Northam in particular is great as the secret service investigator. Historically, well, not for the purists I would imagine but the scenario and place does exist.
It was a Sunday afternoon and I was bored was my reason for going, but I'd suggest that perhaps you should wait for it to come out on video and watch it then.
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Soundtrack
Unmemorable
How does it compare to others by the same director?
Satisfactory
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Enigma [2001]
Codebreaking is an inherently fascinating but not especially cinematic endeavour, which is
... more
whyEnigmaspices up the true story of Bletchley Park and its eclectic group of Nazi code-cracking geniuses with some fictional romance and intrigue. Dougray Scott...
Enigma [2001]
Codebreaking is an inherently fascinating but not especially cinematic endeavour, which is
... more
whyEnigmaspices up the true story of Bletchley Park and its eclectic group of Nazi code-cracking geniuses with some fictional romance and intrigue. Dougray Scott...
Production Year: 1995 - Drama - Director: Ang Lee - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Greg Wise, Hugh Laurie, Robert Hardy
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