Despite its release in mid-November, “The Imitation Game,” is still seizing audiences across the world with its disparate characters and surprisingly intense storyline. The film, which is based on a true story, features well-known actors like Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. It has been nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture.

“The Imitation Game” follows a small group of English mathematicians at the beginning of WWII as they work to to decode the Nazi’s communication system, Enigma. Cumberbatch’s character, Alan Turing, leads the group by building a computer that matches Enigma’s intelligence. However, because of Turing’s social inabilities, he creates turmoil and is disliked by the group of men.

The film is told largely in flashbacks and forwards, switching between his life as a boy and his life in the early 1950s after the war. It focuses not only on Turing working for the Allies but also on his struggles being a gay man while it was still illegal in England.

Throughout “The Imitation Game,” I wished I could jump in and help Turing because of his loneliness. By the end, it felt more like a fictional war thriller than a biographical drama and the fact that it’s a true story made the film that much sadder.

Even though it was excruciatingly heartbreaking at points, it also made it much more exciting. Each character was intriguing; I wish I could watch different films about each one of their lives.

I give “The Imitation Game” an A for its perfectly woven storytelling of both Turing’s life and the accomplishments of Britain’s code-breaking team during the war. It was gripping all the way through; the only problem I had with it was its melancholy undertones. I’m taken aback, as well as angry, that I have never heard of Turing and his team’s impact on WWII until now. What does it say about Hollywood blockbusters that give us more historical information than textbooks?