This week we went down to see Jane’s mum in her care home in Barnet and so while we were down in London overnight we decided to go to the cinema to see The Imitation Game at North Finchley.
It is a true (or as true as Hollywood and history will allow) story of the role that Alan Turing played in cracking the German’s Enigma code during World War 2. It also covered the impact his autism and homosexuality had on his life and sadly, early death. The “love” interest was in the shape of Keira Knightley who played Joan Clarke, a brilliant cryptologist and a friend of Turing who was able to interpret the world for him and him to his colleagues working at Bletchley Park. It’s an excellent film full of pathos and humour but ultimately quite sad. It gave us a lot to talk about; how things have changed in society during our lifetime. You don’t have to be interested in computers to enjoy the film although it does help.
I totally agree and like you the film gave us much to talk about. I am extremely pleased that, in many parts of the world, our views on homosexuality have changed since those terrible times. Hopefully education will help other parts of the world to share our views.
As for those on the autistic spectrum, again I am proud that education has helped, in many western countries, with our understanding of all kinds of disabilities. Interestingly there has been a recent scientific paper explaining how the ancient Egyptians valued people for the contribution they could make rather than emphasising those things they could not do. I.e. People with problems with eye sight were valued for their musical and hearng skills or for their ability to carry out highly intricate close work. Interesting paper.