Such a frustrating disappointment

Perfectly adorable

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

This is based on a novel - not a true story about Betchley and the Enigma machines. For that watch the Imitation Game. The story is convoluted and absurd. By the time things come together the viewer who cares what happens. Kate Winslet was quite plump here and kudos to her for playing the unattractive one. Saffron Burrows looks quite pretty. Dougray Scott acts tormented well. The supporting cast are all good but this silly story is just not worth watching

Take that, U-571! Oh, the irony! "Enigma" was made as a British counter to the supposed historical inaccuracies of the American "U-571," and what happens? The Poles are in a lather at the Brits for historical inaccuracies.Look, you twits, they are both fictional! That means they are not supposed to be historically accurate. And no viewer with half a brain would think any the worse of the Poles based on this movie, because it is FICTION.How do we know it is fiction? Because there were no such persons as Thomas Jericho, Puck, et al. Some of them were based on real people, they say: Hester Wallace on Mavis Batey, who died at 92 this month (and the reason I watched this). However, the real Batey seems to have played a far more key role in breaking Enigma than portrayed. (The movie never makes clear what exactly she does (after all it's secret) or how she has time to go gallivanting around the countryside.)On the other hand, when you make a movie saying a Polish traitor and spy almost cost the war for the Allies, you shouldn't be surprised that Poles might be a bit miffed at you, even if you do give credit to Poland in the beginning of the movie for providing England with an enigma machine, and instructions on how to crack the codes. (Enigma machines had been in use commercially since the 1920s, patented in 1918, so they weren't exactly secret.) Referencing "the greatest convoy battle of all time" and the historical Katyn Massacre in text at the end of the movie, without saying there is no historical connection between the two, also would lead to misunderstandings. (The movie never says what is fiction and what is true.) Here's what is true in the movie: There were Enigma machines, there was a Bletchley Park, there was a Katyn Massacre, there were convoys crossing the Atlantic, there was a Shark code, there was a World War II. Everything and everyone else, as far as I can tell, is made up. Did England actually sink a German U-boat off Scotland and get its Enigma machine (actually, they didn't need the machines, they needed the code books)?The movie wallows in flashbacks for the first half, (sometimes to things that happened just minutes earlier (I think -- it is hard to tell when they happened)). Frankly, I don't think I was intelligent enough to follow them. (Heck, I didn't even understand the beginning of the movie, like why Jericho was persona non grata from the project -- the movie never says what was so terrible that he had done. (I decided to take notes as I watched, but I was still lost.)) And the explanations at the end just made it all the more confusing. Yes, I got the basic plot, but the details looked like a fast sleight of hand game of follow the peanut. I never really cared. Sure, Claire was a red herring (any suspect so early on has to be). But why not just let the internal investigator handle the evidence, rather than risk jail? (Because then there wouldn't be much of a movie.) And where did that nice shiny car come from that they were driving all over the place, like Scotland, (not to mention the tightly rationed gas (which they call "petrol"))? Frankly, there were far too many totally implausible components to the story.Enigma is supposed to be Britain's revenge on Universal Pictures for making a fictional movie about Americans capturing a fictional Enigma machine from a fictional German sub. So they make a movie about the brilliant work done at Bletchley Park. (Except that in Enigma, the British intelligence agents can't find their own missing Enigma machine hidden hurriedly in a motionless car sitting right in front of them. {I'm not sure I would brag about this.}.).But was this actually made by a British movie studio? It was made by Broadway Video and Jagged Films (as in Mick Jagger), and distributed by Buena Vista (i.e., Disney). (Looks British to me.)Bottom line: There sure was a lot of confusing running around and flashbacks (plus some all too skimpy gratuitous sex {in a boardinghouse where visitors were prohibited (so the landlady must have been pretty stupid (or drunk)}) for what turned out to be a fairly simple maguffin. (I haven't seen such a pointless mess since The English Patient.) If the point of the movie was to show the brilliant work done at Bletchley Park, it didn't come close to doing them justice. They looked like a bunch of lopsided frat boys. (Meanwhile, the Yanks were making Sigsaly encrypted AD-DA transceivers (loaning one to Churchill so he and FDR could talk on the radio (look it up)} (Not to mention "Mrs. Minniver")).Spoiler alert: They never come right out and say what the point of the movie was, and why the sinking of the sub was so important (where did that sub come from in the plot, again?). But I guess anyone who could stick with the movie to the end was likely smart enough to figure that out: A British movie studio wanted to capture an Enigma machine from a fictional German sub, to top the American movie studio that captured an Enigma machine from the fictional U-571.(Congratulations.)

This movie is huge falsification of history. First of all - Polish mathematicians and cryptologists decrypted Enigma several years before WWII. Decrypting machines were already built. You may read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma But Polish contribution to the story in this movie is mentioned in this movie in one single phrase. But there is even worse point. The only bad character of the movie is a Pole! Author of this stupid scenario invented Polish guy who would be able to betray allies and become a German spy. What an absurd ! This 'author' probably knows nothing about polish attitude to Nazis during WWII. Poland during WWII had two occupants and two enemies - Nazi Germany and Soviet Union. But no one would join one enemy against the other. It was impossible. But not for makers of this movie. If Pukowski were a real man, after revealing the truth about Katyn, he would probably commit suicide.

after watching this movie,i was a bit disappointed.i mean,the movie was OK,but it doesn't compare to the book,which i found riveting.the movie is set During WWII,and is basically about the British code breakers who were continually trying to break the code of the Enigma machine,which is how the Germans communicated with each other.there is some fine acting here,by Dougray Scott,Kate Winslet,Saffron Burrows and Jeremy Northam,and many others.there a few moments of tension and suspense,but mostly the movie is all about the drama.there is also a love story angle here.this is not some big Hollywood blockbuster version of events.this is a small,independent film.it is based on true events,and i believe it is probably fairly accurate.it's taken from the book by Robert Harris.i highly recommend the book,but if you read it first you,will likely be disappointed in the movie.my vote for Enigma:5/10