DVD Reviews: Enigma

Enigma is a movie based on the novel, surprise, surprise called Enigma, during spring 1943 in the heat of battle with the Germans.  The story follows Dougray Scott who plays the young cryptologist who broke the last codes, which gave the Allies the edge to defeating the Germans.

The Germans use a code creating machine known as The Enigma, it can turn normal words into gobildy gook.  You can type the same letter into the machine ten times and it will give you a different outcome every time, how the German’s use this technology is a series of cogs which have to be set in the right configuration and then you have to give the machine a starting point, for each day you need the correct starting to decode the messages for the day without the starting point the machine is useless.   

The Germans obviously guarded each and every one of these machines with their lives, if one of the machines were to fall into the hands of the Allies it could spell serious trouble for the Germans.  To the Germans credit the machine also had several ports and jumpers at the front of the machine giving the machine something like ten million, million, million configurations; this made it basically impossible for the Allies to break the codes with sheer brain power. 

The story starts off after the breaking of the original starting point, machine configuration and the coding type was known as Shark, because of its ferocity and the brain power you need to crack it.  Now that the Allies have the sharks starting point they can intercept all the jargon and translate the German’s signals into English, well German but then they can translate it.  The Allies now have the ability to read the German war ships movements in the Atlantic, but alas, the Germans for no good reason have changed their entire coding system to a new shark start point, which puts the Allies right back where they started.  This all happened right after the solving of the original shark code. 

These series of events brings the young cryptologist Dougray Scott back to Bletchley Park, the central nervous system of code breaking for the Allies.  He must now undergo a new process to break back into shark, with the help of a team of specialists he must figure a way out to crack the code in only four days to save a convoy, on top of all this remains the suspicion of why the Germans changed their code right after it was solved, is there a spy in Bletchley Park? and who is it, can it be the Russian, the Polish, the crazy man, you don’t know.  There still remains the fact that Dougray Scott was committed to an insane asylum for his failed relationship with the woman he loved, stress can be a terrible thing. 

With a good mystery to solve and the secret police hot on his trail your in for one hell of a ride, and the Germans aren’t holding back.  The story is absolutely fantastic it keeps you interested all the way through, with great performances from Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Jeremy Northam and Saffron Burrows your in for a treat.  Picture quality was flawless all throughout the movie and sound clarity was perfect.  When the large scenes come on screen such as the submarine and cruiser pieces the sound boomed through the lounge giving you the feeling that you are on one of the ships.   

Extras were also very informative and interesting, with behind the scenes giving you not just an insight to how the movie was made but also a bit of history of Bletchley Park and the Enigma machines operation, theatrical trailer and Cast and Crew information rounded the extras off well, not too much information and not just boring extras to fill in space.  A real treat for the eyes, ears and mind, this great romantic thriller will keep you entertained throughout the film.