This is the second WWII film based on actual events I’ve seen in the past month. There have been a number of these movies produced over the past several years. This after a period of time where major release wartime movies tended to center on the ambiguities of Vietnam. Interesting on an intellectual level, the WWII films all try and give us a sense of the reality of that war, and some of the remarkable stories that we now know some 60 years later. Films such as “Saving Private Ryan” and “Enemy at the Gates” show us the horror of the battlefield, “Schlindler’s List” the evil of the Holocaust, while “Enigma” endeavors to let us behind the scenes and into the world of the codebreakers. The film is based on the actual events surrounding a pivotal attack by the Germans on a supply convoy, and on the codebreakers that play an unseen role in that attack. “Enigma” lets us into a very secretive world, not only to outsiders, but within itself as well.

Whether or not the characterizations in “Enigma” are based on actual people is unclear, but I suspect that while the setting is real enough, the characters are fictionalized. Our main protagonist in this drama is Tom Jericho (Dougray Scott). Jericho is a codebreaker who once had a pivotal role at Bletchley Park, the main headquarters for British code breaking. Jericho suffered an emotional breakdown following a stormy relationship with Claire Romilly (Saffron Burrows), a fellow worker in this elite section, and has been sent to Cambridge to recover. He is called back when a serious crisis involving his earlier work occurs. Dougray Scott’s Jericho is unkempt, has a perpetual look of exhaustion, is prone to hallucinatory level memories, and generally looks and acts unfit to return to service. His superiors mainly agree, having only allowed him back because of his early groundbreaking work in the field.

One of the first things Jericho does upon his return is go looking for Claire, whom he is clearly not yet over. He approaches her roommate Hester (Kate Winslet) only to find that Claire has “gone missing”. Thus we are given our two main plot directions, Jericho’s search for the missing Claire, and the codebreakers frantic attempts to decipher a new German code, all the while knowing that the convoy will likely be destroyed.

From the very beginning of the film, the codebreaker’s jargon is difficult to understand. This is an incredibly complex field, and the work each section does is at least semi-secret from all the others. This complexity combined with sporadic secrecy makes the actual work that the section is doing difficult to follow. When we are given full descriptions of the work, they are complicated enough that we feel as if we’ve come into the middle of a college lecture on a subject about which we know nothing. We get some, but not nearly all, of the ideas, and are left with the distinct feeling that we have forgotten to take the required prep courses. This, of course, makes the plot lines difficult to follow, and difficult to care about. Both the story involving Claire’s disappearance, as well as that of the convoy’s fate, rely heavily on our being able to understand what the codebreakers are doing, and we simply are not given enough information to do that.

The complexity of the mathematics reminded me of “A Beautiful Mind”. Had that film been driven by John Nashes work, we would have been lost. Fortunately, “A Beautiful Mind” is driven by character, not plot, and our understanding of complex mathematics is not required. Unfortunately, “Enigma” is driven by plot, with character development coming in second. We don’t completely understand the work (certainly we get some) and we don’t get to know the characters well enough not to care about the work. This type of story doesn’t play well as a thriller because we need to do one or the other, care primarily about the characters, or care primarily about the plot. Here it is difficult to do either.

Not to say that there aren’t good things to be seen in “Enigma”. The period setting, costumes, and overall tone are very well done. The bustling “town” of Bletchley Park is fascinating, especially as we come to realize that those outside this elite space are basically unaware of its existence. The performances are all solid, but the actors are not always able to rise above the material. Dougray Scott is convincing as an obsessed, brilliant, unstable man working under immense pressure. You can see his discomfort in his face, his posture, his movements. The more he realizes that he never really knew Claire at all, the more despondent he becomes, and Scott does an admirable job of showing this. Kate Winslet also gives a good performance, but her character is so poorly developed that we never really get a sense of her motivations. Saffron Burrow’s Claire is seen mainly in flashback, and the lighting and soft focus help her come through as mysterious and captivating. A nicely slimy turn by Jeremy Northam as a somewhat shadowy government agent rounds out the performances.

A major plot point also plays nicely and is historically interesting as well. As opposed to films centering on the Vietnam era, WWII movies tend more toward the black and white, good vs. evil. “Enigma” resolves a major plot line in a way that shows shades of gray in the moral certainty of our involvement in WWII. Not something often seen, I was impressed by this inclusion of the politics of war seen in such a stark light.


The major flaw in “Enigma” is the screenplay. Written by Tom Stoppard, who has turned out some stellar work in the forms of “Shakespeare in Love”, “Brazil”, and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”, he splits his focus, thus diluting both the characters and the plot. Directed by Michael Apted (“Gorilla’s in the Mist”, “Coalminer’s Daughter”) the movie basically just had too much going on. As in “Enemy at the Gates”, this factual material is fascinating, but the fictionalized aspects detract from that inherent value.

Overall, “Enigma” does provide a glimpse into the very secretive and interesting world of the WWII codebreaker, but the screenplay lacks sufficient focus and leaves the viewer stranded trying to decipher (no pun intended) both the plot and the characters. This said, I do recommend “Enigma” for those with major interest in the real stories of WWII, as well as anyone with a good grasp of higher mathematics. As for the rest of us, if you can flow with the general plot without understanding the details, you’ll probably enjoy the film. I have not recommended “Enigma”, as I felt the shortcomings were not quite outweighed by the strengths. It was a close call, however, and viewers with the interests and abilities I discussed earlier are likely to enjoy this film.



Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD