Enigma (2001)

A young genius frantically races against time to crack an enemy code and solve the mystery surrounding the woman he loves.

Director:

Michael Apted

Writers:

Robert Harris (novel), Tom Stoppard (screenplay)

Stars:

Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dougray Scott	...	Thomas Jericho
Kate Winslet	...	Hester Wallace
Saffron Burrows	...	Claire
Jeremy Northam	...	Wigram
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau	...	Puck (as Nikolaj Coster Waldau)
Tom Hollander	...	Logie
Donald Sumpter	...	Leveret
Matthew Macfadyen	...	Cave
Richard Leaf	...	Baxter
Ian Felce	...	Proudfoot
Bohdan Poraj	...	Pinker
Paul Rattray	...	Kingcome
Richard Katz	...	De Brooke
Tom Fisher	...	Upjohn
Robert Pugh	...	Skynner

Storyline

During the heart of World War II, in March of 1943, cryptoanalysts at Britain's code-breaking center have discovered to their horror that Nazi U-boats have changed their Enigma Code. Authorities enlist the help of a brilliant young man named Tom Jericho to help them break the code again. The possibility of a spy within the British code-breakers' ranks looms and Tom's love, Claire, has disappeared. To solve the mysteries, Tom recruits Claire's best friend, Hester Wallace. In investigating Claire's personal life, the pair discovers personal and international betrayals.

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Plot Keywords:

code breaking | traitor | world war two | bletchley park | spy | 

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Taglines:

Crack the Code

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for a sex scene and language

Details

Country:

UK USA Germany Netherlands

Language:

English German

Release Date:

7 June 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enigma - Das Geheimnis

Filming Locations:

Trafalgar Square, St James's, London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$156,587, 21 April 2002

Gross USA:

$4,301,582

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$15,713,204

Company Credits

Production Co:

Manhattan Pictures International, Intermedia Films, Senator Film Produktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scarf that Tom wears throughout the film is a King's College Cambridge scarf, which is the college Tom is a fellow of in the book.

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Goofs

Although set during the Second World War, all the scenes in and around Trafalgar Square show modern London buses in the background. At the end of the film, at least one RT bus had visible route number boxes on the roof - the first batch of RT buses had this, with drop cabs, and were introduced before the war.

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Quotes

Tom Jericho: It weighs twenty-six pounds, battery included, and goes anywhere. The Enigma machine - the Germans have thousands of them.
Hammerbeck: What's it do?
Tom Jericho: It turns plain-text messages into gobbledygook. Then the gobbledygook is transmitted in Morse. At the other end is another Enigma machine, which translates the message back to the original text.
Hammerbeck: And you have one of your own.
Logie: Uh, courtesy of the Polish Cipher Bureau.
Hammerbeck: So what's the problem?
Tom Jericho: The problem? The problem is the machine has a hundred and fifty million,...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in The 100 Greatest War Films (2005)

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Soundtracks

Andante from Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, B W V 1049
(1721)
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (as J S Bach)
Performed by Aurèle Nicolet & Peter Reidemeisser (flutes)
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester (as Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra) / Karl Münchinger
Licensed courtesy of Decca Music Group Limited

User Reviews

Good suspense war film

The movie concerns upon an investigation team in the Bletchley Park mansion with the aim to decipher communication keys of German submarines during second world war.

In the squad there are a wise nut-head (Dougray Scott) , an ugly and outcast girl (Kate Winslet) and another rush and beautiful (Saffron Burrows), and yet a clever investigator (Jeremy Norton).

The movie mingles mystery , action , a love story , thriller and it's quite amusing.

The flick is paced to nick of time , as they ought to figure out the clues by means of the Enigma , a mechanical device before that an Allied fleet was found by German subs .

One of the motivations behind shooting this picture was the indignation of many British World War 2 veterans over the movie U-571 , in which the capture of the Enigma was shown to be done by American navy soldiers .

Michael Apted direction is nice , he creates enough suspense , we're very interested in the events , besides being based on real deeds.

Final feature film with a full music score composed by John Barry , his music is fascinating likeness to "Dancing with wolves" and a lot of hits during his long career thirty years ago .

It was such a thrilling movie that had a great success in box office.

The film will appeal to emotions enthusiasts and suspense fans.

Rating: 7/10 above average .