I emphasize in advance that it will not be a historical column. It will also not be a valuable text on substantive issues, but only a loose entry about things that escape many people. Especially the people of the country where I was born, which is Poland. I don't know where it comes from. Is it the result of ignorance, false beliefs, or perhaps the constant repression of reality and facts that have been known for centuries. Poles cannot understand that real strength has always mattered - be it in the form of a strong army, the possibility of exerting real pressure (economic, military, other type), strong alliances, etc. And it's best to combine several of them, because one can often be insufficient or its cost can be disproportionately high - why sometimes involve many units, as you can simply send a part of the troops or one symbolic ship or tank battalion to the border, and the rest should be done by roads diplomatic? The price is lower and the effect is the same or similar. According to Dr. Jacek Bartosiak, geopolitics can be compared to interpersonal relations, but on a larger scale. Translating this into a simpler example - the more attributes a man has (beauty, resourcefulness, skills, knowledge, good genes, money, influence, personality), the greater the chance of finding a partner or being popular among women. Or at least, he'll have nice adventures more often.
The morality that we like to refer to often, ie Poles, does not matter much. Well, unless it causes an outrage in the nation of attackers, then problems may arise, but as history has repeatedly shown, there are ways to redirect public attention or make it insignificant. At best, history will judge, but who will care a few years after the fact? When the perpetrator is dead or his nation is leading a stable and good-quality life? Besides, there will always be some justification because the winners write history. The movie "The Imitation Game" showed it perfectly, which ignored the large participation of Poles in the victory over Germany. I don't cry because of that, because art and history are two different worlds. Just like science and politics, for example, this does not mean that these two worlds cannot influence each other or that there is no connection between them. The movie is one of the best propaganda tools. Goebells already knew this, and the world uses his conclusions and achievements in this field to this day (and is not going to stop). If a film is qualitatively good, i.e. properly directed, intriguing, influencing the viewer, this image often stays in the memory and it is difficult to change it with another thought. It is the same with any information - it is difficult to root it out and insert a new one, the real one. It has already been proven by scientists that even if it is wrong, it is difficult to throw it out of our brain, and without proper training, we can constantly duplicate it.
Through my criticism of Poland and Poles, one can sometimes get the wrong impression that I do not notice our positive qualities. I recognize and appreciate, but my nation makes a few mistakes all too often. For example, we do not close many issues to the end, we are unable to define our goals and systematically implement them, we are unable to take care of our national interest and we accept incompetence and mistakes. Sure, it can be attributed to other nations - in history and in the present day, we find examples of it in the USA, Japan, Great Britain, Germany and every other country. The reasons for the weakness of our nation can be found in several points. For example, stronger players influence us to reduce competition, slow down our development, pursue their interests without looking at other countries. We also lack elites who are above politicians (something like Deepstate in the US or Russia) and direct the country's development. Our own mentality, which we exhibited many years before communism and the partitions, is also important, it can be summarized more or less in this way - "somehow it will be fine now, and if it will be tomorrow, don't worry"). I probably missed some reasons, but I tried to write about what I know. Probably each of these reasons contributed a little to this. Our approach to reality, as some of my countrymen do, should not be ignored. I have a few objections to the citizens of several powers, but I cannot deny them the effectiveness that we clearly lack. This can be seen, for example, in art and culture - we cannot do the first one at the level of the above-mentioned countries, and the second one we cannot effectively "sell" to the world. As you can see, for example, "The Witcher", which is our strongest brand, and the government, politicians, and generally the bureaucratic class, are unable to take advantage of it. This is done by unrelated units who have neither the strength nor the resources of the state.
It is also visible in the fight against historical lies, e.g. blaming us for complicity in the Holocaust, even though we had a minimal share of other nations, which are less often criticized for it. Common people fight for the good name of Poland, allocating private funds for it, while politicians create institutions with multi-million dollar budgets, which means absolutely nothing. They would give 1/5 or even 1/10 of that money to NGOs and the effect would be much better. For example, bringing to court editors or publishers that slander us. This is how it is done in the civilized world, but not here. It is a pity, because I would love to see good films at the Western level with us in the lead role. We have tons of stories that are great stuff for exciting cinema, such as "The Imitation Game". I am sure that not one person in the world would be delighted with it. But why, it's better to throw this money down the drain and give it to some rabble who licked some politician's ass long and tender enough.
I first heard about this movie a few years ago. I don't remember the exact circumstances, but the discussion I witnessed stuck in my mind. It was attended by people who declared themselves fans of history, had right-wing national views, complained about "falsifying history" and "forcing homosexual propaganda". While I can agree with the former, because the film clearly diminishes the role of Poles, not at all with the latter. I will start with the first point - its narrative shows that the Polish intelligence only acquired the Enigma and partially figured it out (in the sense, thanks to them, the English machine was created, but most of the work is due to English mathematicians). Which is a lie, the Poles built it from scratch thanks to the instructions of the French, and if not for financial constraints, we would have solved this problem much earlier than the English. Maybe I missed something, but while they refer to our merits with moderate respect, they did not mention them enough. I know that this is an adaptation of a book that tells the situation from a specific perspective, but since the creators wanted realism, I could add a few sentences about the greater contribution of Poles. The film and the viewers would rather endure if the film lasted a maximum of 5 minutes longer. I know that some Poles also falsify history by perpetuating certain myths, but to some extent they are justified, at least in some spheres (on the principle - since everyone builds their own narrative, which includes some simplifications for the benefit of their own nation, so do we) - foreign films too often diminish the contribution of Poles to the fight against Germany. As for the second point, as I said, the film tells a specific story from the perspective of Alan Turing. While writing this paragraph, I wentogle that his homosexuality was true, and on this point, "The Imitation Game" is consistent with the actual story. I repeatedly criticize the LGBT community and the left for certain actions, as well as people with right-wing views. One should not allow lies and too far-reaching propaganda regardless of views. And the fact is that Western Europe and the USA have had a bad attitude towards homosexuality for many decades and there is no need to be offended by reality. The same with homosexuals - yes, they are a minority in relation to heterosexuals, but they should not be demonized. After all, they are normal people, and the fact that some of them are strange is often the result of intolerance in the family and society. Besides, how many heterosexuals are abnormal.
To confirm my words, link -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T4vdlHp0QM
The plot of the film tells how British mathematicians figured out the Enigma. Extremely advanced encryption machine, thanks to which the Germans could communicate without problems. Thanks to this, their attacks were coordinated, they avoided the Allies, they could freely say what and how, without fear that they would be understood by their enemies. Communication is one of the most important aspects of waging war effectively. I am not an expert in history and military affairs, but I have read or heard about how important it is. More than one battle has been won because the commanders could give orders better and faster, and the soldiers could receive them. I don't know how WW2 would have happened in Europe if Enigma hadn't been worked out. I suspect that in the end they could not win it, but the Germans would certainly have done more damage, and the fighting in the old continent would have certainly lasted longer. "The Imitation Game" presents us with an abridged version of the events of how the British worked out the Enigma and how this knowledge was used to defeat the Third Reich.
It also raises a very important topic that most people cannot understand. As I mentioned in the text about "Vinland Saga" (anime about the Vikings), being a commander is an extremely ungrateful and pissing off job. Sure, it comes with many privileges, a good pay, and a first prize for winning, but it also comes with a responsibility for the number of casualties, for both civilians and military personnel. Hence, sometimes you have to decide who you will send to certain death in choosing the lesser evil. I know what it sounds like, and I know cool calculating and trading human life isn't cool, but that's life. You can be nervous about it, but more than once we face a choice - either a bad one or even worse. Sometimes you have to be cynical and make a difficult decision - whether to sacrifice 5 people or 500. Even though it is not a long storyline, the film reflects it perfectly - the cynicism, or rather the responsibility of Alan Turing for future generations. If not for his decisions, all their efforts so far would have been wasted, because the Germans could reprogram their machine, and the Allies would have to start all the fun from scratch.
As for the actors, I can mention Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley and Charles Dance. The other actors were only a background for these three for me, not being positive or negative. Oh, they did their job correctly. The three mentioned by me sounded a little better. I can't say that they were very good roles, because in my humble opinion, they could squeeze more out of those roles. Perhaps I underestimate them because my knowledge of their filmography is too poor, but I think they played in the usual way I saw in "Dr. Strange", "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "Game of Thrones". Charles played the stereotypical military concrete commander. Keira, on the other hand, created a good, but not very original, image of a strong woman. Benedict did a good job of portraying an intelligent but retired mathematician, but, like his colleague, he did not stand out from other actors like him. Don't get me wrong, they had some really good moments (especially Knightley who showed really good qualities where women often excel men) that I appreciated during the screening but forgot about them relatively quickly, and in my opinion from actors with such reputation you can ask for a bit more.
Summing up, it is not an outstanding production, but it is good as good as possible. I was also pissed off by the downsizing of the role of Poles, but I am able to turn a blind eye to it due to the fact that the authors adapted the book, not a historical film. It would be different if they did not mention them at all, but they flattered our ego by talking about the heroic Poles, the sacrifice, wisdom and courage of our boys, so let's say it was ok. wars and that era. Probably in a dozen or so years, few will remember him, perhaps I will see more disadvantages compared to other historical films that were made at a similar time, but it does not matter much. Art is supposed to be fun here and now, and if it passes the test of time well, it is only an additional advantage, not a necessary necessity. I rate "The Imitation Game" 7/10.
Thank you Charlers for Your expertise, thanks to you I saved time on research and correction of my mistakes.
[Source](https://www.filmaffinity.com/ve/filmimages.php?movie_id=617730)
[Source](https://www.filmaffinity.com/ve/filmimages.php?movie_id=617730)
[Source](https://www.filmaffinity.com/ve/filmimages.php?movie_id=617730)
