The Imitation Game · written by Graham Moore · 2014

At the bonfire, the team destroys its wartime records and celebrates; title cards recount Turing’s death, computing legacy, Cairncross’s confession, his pardon, and the persecution of gay men.

Scene 130 of 130 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Last scene of act three

Save the Cat: Final Image
Alan Turing

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:56 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 130

At Bletchley Park, Alan Turing must persuade a skeptical team to build a machine that can break Enigma before the war is lost, while concealing the self the law condemns.

Scenes 1–12
Turing is investigated as a guarded outsider in 1951, then enters Bletchley in 1939 looking for the puzzle he can solve.
Scenes 13–30
He sees the scale of Enigma, believes a machine can solve it, and grows isolated from colleagues who make little progress.
Scenes 31–50
Churchill’s order gives Turing authority and his half-built machine advances toward sustained work.
Scenes 51–88
Joan joins the project; the team builds and tests the machine while Turing learns to rely on collaborators.
Scenes 89–91
A first decrypt proves the machine works, and the team immediately faces the choice to let the Carlisle convoy be attacked.
Scenes 92–120
The team applies Ultra selectively, accepts wartime losses, and carries the burdens of secrecy through the end of the war.
Scenes 121–123
At Bletchley’s closing wartime order, the story returns to the 1951 interview where Turing asks Nock to judge him and then shows the conviction Nock failed to prevent.
Just before
Scene 127
In 1954, Turing reviews his papers, looks toward Christopher, switches off the light, and walks away down the hall.
Scene 128
Police return to Turing’s home, and Nock arrives, remembering his first visit to the house.
Scene 129
Nock recognizes the cyanide at Turing’s bedside and realizes that his actions helped condemn the man whose work changed the world.
Scene 130
This scene

130EXT. BLETCHLEY PARK - NIGHT - 1945

Alan, Joan, Hugh, John, and Peter stand before the MASSIVE BONFIRE that’s been built in the center of the Park.

TITLE: Alan Turing committed suicide in 1954.

TITLE: His machine was never perfected, though it generated a whole field of research into what became nicknamed “Turing Machines.” Today, we call them “computers.”

Hugh comes over and puts one arm around Alan, another around Joan. They have a moment: They did it. They won the war.

John throws a stack of Enigma messages high into the air —

— They watch as the papers flutter down into the fire.

They laugh, and one by one they all join in:

They FROLIC and PLAY as they throw every document, every slip of scratch paper, every bit of evidence they were there into the fire.

TITLE: In 1990, John Cairncross publicly confessed to having been a Soviet agent. He was never prosecuted.

TITLE: In 2013, Turing was granted an official pardon by the government. Approximately 49,000 other gay men were convicted and punished under the same code between 1885 and 1967.

TITLE: The logo of Apple Computer - an apple with a bite taken out of it - has long been rumored to be a silent tribute to Turing. These rumors have never been confirmed.

ALAN TURING (V.O.)

Well then.

ON ALAN AND THE TEAM: Hugging and playing as everything they did is burnt to a crisp.

ALAN TURING (V.O.)

Any questions?

BLACK.