Enigma 312
The film closely follows the novel, although it does eliminate a few of the more subtle complexities. It was wildly popular in Britain when it was released there last year, probably because the story is told with gorgeously detailed sets dressed with nostalgia for a time of British patriotism and success. The film's costumes are lavish, the extras are everywhere, and the look is close enough to reality that the best complaint one ex-translator stationed at Bletchley Park could offer was that the canteen in the film was much nicer. Even Mick Jagger, one of the film's producer, couldn't resist the spirit and gave himself a cameo appearance as an officer relaxing in a club.
This film could represent the cultural high point for codeslinging nerds and other Slashdot types. Jagger produced this film with another cultural icon, Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels. If you secretly spend your days dreaming of strutting around the stage like Mick Jagger, you can now take some pride in the fact that Mick Jagger spent at least a few days dreaming of playing a code geek. And why not? According to one of the characters, the women go weak in the knees when they get to talk to codebreakers like the protagonist, Tom Jericho (Dougray Scott).
This movie is about sex and mathematics and the crucial satisfaction that comes from understanding the depth of their power. The two main threads of the film track Tom Jericho's search for 1) a missing lover (Saffron Burroughs) and 2) a new way to break the Germans' four rotor, Naval Enigma system known as Shark. His lover may have been mixed up in Germany's sudden decision to abandon the old codes and all of this must be untangled or else the war could be lost. Tom Stoppard, the screenwriter also responsible for Shakespeare In Love, weaves these two threads together with car chases, kissing, train whistles, moonlit nights, illicit file swapping and a few other romantic chords.
It seems like a lot of things happen in four days, but we must remember that this plays out in an era when people weren't couch potatoes taught that ignoring advertising is forbidden. The pacing is the biggest problem with the film because there's too much action packed into 117 minutes, leaving some transitions a bit confusing. The jumps are often too quick and in some places it's hard to know when the flashbacks begin and end.
Despite that, there's much for a geek to love in this movie. Both the Enigma machine and the cryptanalytic attack developed by the British are described in fairly good detail. We learn, perhaps too quickly, that much of the game is finding a crib, a term the codebreakers used to refer to a word or phrase that must be somewhere in the scrambled message. A weather broadcast, for instance, would include the word "rainy" on a wet day and the codebreakers would examine the possible combinations that might produce that word. That was one weakness the folks at Bletchley Park were able to exploit before Jericho's girlfriend disappeared.
Some of the other mathematical details are accurate but not explained in enough detail to be easily understood. Once the crib was identified, the codebreakers relied heavily on the fact that the Enigma machine could not encode one letter into itself. This weakness allowed them to eliminate many of the potential cribs quickly. Then they spent their time looking for potential "loops" in the coding. In a simple case, a loop is formed when the letter A is encoded as an R and a few letters later, an R is encoded as an A. Most of the loops are a chain of several letters strung out in an odd combination. This pencil-and-paper work by the codebreaker is turned over to a big machine that uses the loops to eliminate many of the potential positions of the rotors. The rest are tested quickly with plenty of whirring and clicking. On a good day, and there were many of them, the right settings for the rotors popped out and let the Allies read the encrypted traffic.
You get to see all of this in action, although the film does not describe much of it in the hopes of sparing those unanointed with the knee-weakening, code smashing gene. It's not really fair for me to concentrate on the machines and ignore the actors because most of the movie revolves around the emotional battles for the characters and their conflicting desires. These passions are well-constructed and intelligently arranged. Dougray Scott plays the mathematician with enough dash and sophistication while Kate Winslet fills out the role of the mousey clerk and co-conspirator. The real star is Jeremy Northam, who plays a sophisticated Foreign Office spy with the right amount of oily charm. He, like everyone else in this movie, is fighting a private little war which may or may not fit in with the larger battle between the Allied and Axis forces.
Some of these battles are so crucial to the plot that it's impossible to comment on them without spoiling the ending. For this reason, I'm including several links for you to click after seeing the movie ( first, second, and third.) as well as a sentence encrypted with an Enigma simulator:
FBZ DDE NZA DJN PNI POH YBF NJR QFP DDZ TVP IHN YSJ IXX UAH YXF BZT ZXW BXS GES GYD IFO VXQ KHU LMA SYX YEG MGK
Using Enigma as a digital rights management device is not new-- Harris includes an encrypted dedication in the novel-- but it raises an interesting question: Is the movie and its detailed description of breaking the Enigma in violation of the DMCA? Is the extra detail in the movie just a cookbook for those who want to pirate the sentence I encrypted above? If so, should I be able to shut it down? While some reviewers may dream of writing something so powerful that it closes a movie immediately, I would hate to do it to this one. It's a pretty, nostalgic thriller that makes a good date movie--especially if you happen to be a knee-weakening, codebreaking type.
Peter Wayner's latest books are Disappearing Cryptography, an exploration about how to disguise information and Translucent Databases, a practical description of how to use encryption algorithms to protect sensitive information like credit cards and medical records. If they ever get made into a movie, he wants to be played by Keanu Reeves -- the one who played Ted "Theodore" Logan, not the one who played Neo.
interesting approach (Score:2, Insightful)
In this case it is an irrelevent rant that needlessly attacks Hollywood studios. I would argue that this editorial content almost certainly does not belong in a movie review (which should be studio-agnostic, IMO), and without doubt should not be representing the review on the main page.
This doesn't even address the fact that comparing Gnutella users to the codebreakers in WW2 is a stretch, at best. Remember, those guys invented the computer in order to defeat Nazis. This is very different from sharing one's collection of Beck songs and downloading Simpsons episodes.
Slashdot FUD? (Score:4, Insightful)
So, what's the point of using a purposefully misleading intro paragraph? Slashdot is where I learned of the acronym "FUD" ("Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt," for those who do not know) but it seems like putting a misleading intro like this will help spread it, rather than help stop it.
How many people do you think will only read the main page, and go away thinking it's the truth? Yeah, it's their own fault for not reading the entire story, but everyone is guilty of this from time to time.
NAZI's and DMCA (Score:3, Insightful)
Gosh, I'm glad this is about WWII... (Score:0, Insightful)
While I am sure that this serves as a terrific attention-getting device, in the future try not to have such blatantly BS and non-factual headlines. Its deception for the purpose of getting hits, something I didn't think slashdot would stoop to. And its "Bait and Switch," kinda, in that you come expecting something, see the add, then actually read something else.
That said, it looks like a great film. Maybe I'll go see it, though I am pretty well read on the enigma story as it is. Of course, I saw LoTR, so thats a cheesy argument
Hmmm (Score:2, Insightful)
The fictional encomium to hacking (the Cryptonomicon) tries to draw a parallel, but let's not forget that the codebreakers of WW2 were trying to save their country. They didn't think "information wants to be free"-as a matter of fact, the fact that Enigma was broken was one of the most jealously guarded secrets of the war.
Today's hackers (or "crackers" if you prefer) are mostly motivated by challenge and ego. Although there is a mythological character called "the good hacker," he coincides with reality about as much as the "honorable thief."
Re:interesting approach (Score:4, Insightful)
Not that I agree with them but a great many Gnutella users think that they're using it to defeat Nazis too. It's just that their definition of Nazis is based on greedy businessmen in Hollywood rather than fascist murderers in wartime Germany.
Oh, and by the way, the code breakers at Bletchley Park didn't invent the computer - Charles Babbage did that a great many years earlier.
Society Only Appreciates Scientists In Movies (Score:5, Insightful)
This movie may dramatize the codebreakers as sex symbols and symbols of power but this was certainly not the case in real life. Consider the case of brilliant Alan Turing. He essentially led the effort to break the Engima code. How did society repay him? He was an outcast for being an "out" homosexual. He was harrassed throughout his life (read more [lambda.net]). The British government let the professional and personal attacks on him continue because they didn't want to reveal his role in helping to crack the code, even years after the war was over. Unable to accept the fact that the same government he did an incredible service for now actively attacked him, he committed suicide. The "we need to keep his role secret" excuse is rediculous. No one raised a stink when Churchil published his memoroirs, which were filled with sensitive material.
I don't suppose the true story of Turing made it into this film at all.
GMD
The Real Story (Score:5, Insightful)
Its really amazing some of the details that people never hear about breaking the Enigma code. One quick fact/story that I remember (obviously paraphrased and correct me if I make any errors, its been a bit since I last saw it): One of the first versions of the Enigma code that the British were able to crack, was the Luftwaffe code. How? To set up the machine to decode the enigma code, you needed to base the rotors off a three letter unencrypted sequence and another three letters that were encrypted. Unfortunately for the Germans, the operators got lazy all too often. If the first three letters were HIL, any guess what the next three encrypted were? Yup, TER, spelling out "Hitler." Other operators would use their names or their girlfriend's. It wasn't that the code was flawed, it took the German operators, inadvertently of course, to help the British break their own enigma.
Its in many ways analogous to the great majority of system problems now, open ports, unpatched software, etc. Any system can be nearly perfect, until you add a human to run it.
A few minor changes (Score:5, Insightful)
Writer: I know! We'll fictionalize it, then we can have a nice straight protagonist, the audience will like it, and we'll still get to tell a cool story!
Someone way down on the totem pole: But isn't that kind of dishonoring the memory of the genius who actually did the work?
Producer: (Hands over ears) LA LA LA LA I can't hear you...
Re:NAZI's and DMCA (Score:4, Insightful)
And complete lack of control/ownership of information (and everything else) is a basic principal of any anarchistic state.
Any government requires citizens to give up certain freedoms in order to exist. For example, I am generally prohibited from walking into a busy shopping mall and firing a gun into the air. The goal is to walk the careful balance between too many freedoms (allowing people to randomly shoot people on the street, allowing strangers to wander through your house at 3 am) and too few freedoms (disallowing political dissent, making all property owned by the state).
It's unfair to reject the notion of controlling information simply because it's something that fascists took to the extreme. You're welcome to argue that the current information control in "free" countries is too far towards the fascist side, but that requires a more detailed, relative judgement.
To further make the point, incarceration of law breakers is also a basic principal of any fascist state. And yet that doesn't make our jail system inherently wrong.
All that being said, I do believe that the DMCA does go too far at times. I do not, however, disagree with the underlying motive of reducing copyright infringement.
Re:Alan Turing (Score:2, Insightful)
I agree; and the fact that he way gay probably had somthing to do with that. I think thats a shame, romance and gay still don't mix in Hollywood's minds.
There was a play on Turing though.BREAKING THE CODE [turing.org.uk] I allways wanted to see it. Derek Jacobi rocks!
BTW I own a first addition American of the Hodges book.
Re:interesting approach (Score:3, Insightful)
Wish There Was An Alan Turing Film (Score:3, Insightful)
The true story of Alan Turing (see my post below) is a fascinating, albeit disturbing story. Y'know, it's too bad that Hollywood would never make a movie about him and the battles that he faced. I mean, Hollywood is notorious for copying successful movies. When Star Wars came out, everyone was making space films and TV shows. Now that Spider-man is a big hit, there's going to be a slew of comic book movies. I wish that the success of "A Beautiful Mind" would convince Hollywood that there are some fascinating stories about brilliant scientists and the incredible challenges they faced. There are a lot of fascinating stories out there.
GMD
Re:interesting approach (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Gosh, I'm glad this is about WWII... (Score:2, Insightful)
I think the movie sounds a lot more exciting with that type of description. It was very poignant but still true to the plot.
Re:interesting approach (Score:2, Insightful)
Err, no. The Polish Code breakers invented Bombes long before Blechley Park started really trying to crack the German codes. It was only when the enigma machines got an additional roter that the Poles turned over their designs for the bombes to the British, becuase the Poles didn't have the resources to build the much greater number of bombes that would now be needed.
Also they wanted to get the code breaking ability out of their county before the pending German invasion.
Re:interesting approach (Score:1, Insightful)
The comparisons are still not equal, but there is a cominality. The people behind the nazi movment in germany would have been the elitists, and thats who these RIAA/MPAA people are. They are trying to impose their view of america on all americans. We're to be a consumer class, while the corporate mogules make the decisions for the rest of us.
Again. The MPAA/RIAA have not killed 6 million people, but they are commiting a crime against humanity.
Re:Society Only Appreciates Scientists In Movies (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Slashdot FUD? (Score:3, Insightful)
Two points about this:
1. It's on
2. It's about a movie. If you go to see it based on a review you didn't read, you deserve to be disappointed.
3. It's a movie about codebreaking, and it's called Enigma. How much of a clue do you need?
4. I meant three points.
American "History" (Score:1, Insightful)
Does anyone *care* what someone who accepts Hollywood-as-truthteller has to say? People that stupid seldom actually get off the couch long enough to act based on their bad information. To my foreign brethren I say this - Relax. Have a beverage. No one of significance in America believes the trash coming out of Hollywood any more than y'all do.
Flame on!
Re:Society Only Appreciates Scientists In Movies (Score:3, Insightful)
OK, explain to me why homosexuality intrinsicly has to do with "sex" more than hetrosexuality does? It's not like society tries to ban "Titanic" for being a hetrosexual love story, and I'm sure parents took their kids to that movie...
People committing suicide becuase they're ostracized becuase of their orientation is very MUCH something relevant to kids. Hell, gay teens need good role models in movies and on TV.
I don't think anyone's suggesting that we make "Turing Porn" here... it's very easy to portray a character as out without involving "sex".
If you raise kids in a bubble, without teaching them ABOUT sex, drugs, cars, wars, what are they going to do about it when they are confronted with it? They need to be given the time and knowledge to come to an understanding on their own.
Re:interesting approach (Score:2, Insightful)
Okay, I understand what you are trying to suggest, but by definition Congress did indeed have everything to do with passing the DMCA.
Still, you are misplacing blame. As a rational, capitalist organization, the $x$yAA will buy legislation as long as it is for sale. Even if you hunted down its members, every other industry group will do the same. Your task will be complete when you have destroyed all industry.
The correct approach is to either force Congress to be "good" (easier said than done), or to remove Congress's power altogether. The federal government is too big to meet the needs of its subjects, and now serves only to extend its own influence.
States and local governments need to pass anti-DMCA laws that nullify the DMCA as permitted by the 10th Amendment. The federal government is seizing power not granted it by the Constitution. Attacking the MPAA and RIAA is a waste of time.
Oh, and even Congress isn't comparable to National Socialism.
;)
Re:NAZI's and DMCA (Score:2, Insightful)
The problem with that is that everything becomes contract law. Suddenly, you've offloaded the "protect the IP" burden on to the already hated licensing agreement.
Pro: This would probably require an upfront, formally signed contract rather than the "break the seal to indicate acceptance" bullshit.
Con: The contract would have to be worded such that all damages caused by secondary violators (i.e. people who redistribute the work obtained from the original violator) is recoverable from the primary violator. Since the secondary violators haven't signed the contract, there's nothing to stop them from "legally" redistributing the work.
Con: Weak legal IP protection mechanisms encourage content producers to use elaborate copy protection systems.
Con: Weak overall IP protection discourages commercial interests from entering an IP-based venture. While some people would herald the influx of indie artists working off busking-type systems, there's really nothing to stop such artists from doing that already.
Pro: Artists will focus more on live performances, using freely distributed music as a means of advertising.
Con: Other IP ventures don't have the equivilent of concerts. Books would even lose the hardcopy advantage, since anyone with a printing press could theoretically start churning out cheaper, professionally printed copies, provided they can get their hands on the book without signing the accompanying license agreement.
Re:Society Only Appreciates Scientists In Movies (Score:4, Insightful)
In the Nova special "Breaking the Code", they speculated that Turing's work probably cut WW2 down by about 2 years. My father was born in 1945, and my Grandfather fought at the Battle of Casino in Italy in 1944.
Without Turing, my Dad might not have even been born (spare me quantum causality arguments about butterfly wings or Churchill sneezing.
Turing deserves praise for his work and recognition for how he was abandoned by the UK govt, even if it's posthomously and 50 years after his death.