Best Drama Movies on Netflix Right Now (2020)

No. 42 – The Imitation Game  (2014)

Written by: Graham Moore

Directed by: Morten Tyldum

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance, and Mark Strong

Taking place in the midst of World War ll in Great Britain, The Imitation Game follows the story of Alan Turing (Cumberbatch), a mathematician who becomes part of a British intelligence operation involved in cracking the code to Enigma, a German communications machine with a near-impossible algorithm.

Turing, hiding his homosexuality, deals with both his obsessions with cracking Enigma, as well coming face to face with what he has hidden from everyone else. The film leads us through much of the war, as the team of mathematicians craft the ultimate code-breaking device later named the Turing Machine and what would eventually be the device that operated the first computer.

You would be hard pressed to find anything displeasing about The Imitation Game. Benedict Cumberbatch shines in the lead role as Turing, and Keira Knightley gives one of her best performances in years as his partner, and later his fiance, Joan Clarke. Cumberbatch is able to illustrate a deep seeded anxiety and fear within his character, as Turing deals with his sexuality, and the unfortunate consequences he could potentially reap if anyone were to find out. This is a must watch, and its two-hour running time will fly by.