War and piece
of ass

>> A tormented WWII love story unfolds in Enigma

by MATTHEW HAYS

You’ve got to hand it to the folks behind Enigma, a World War II romance-mystery-espionage movie: this is an ambitious project. No less than Michael Apted (Coal Miner’s Daughter, 7 Up series, The World Is Not Enough) directs, celebrated screenwriter and playwright Tom Stoppard (who won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love) adapts the bestselling Robert Harris novel, and Kate Winslet (Titanic) and Jeremy Northam (The Winslow Boy) star. Adding to this bizarre masala of names are Rolling Stone Mick Jagger and Canuck SNL creator Lorne Michaels, who serve as coproducers.

Such an unusual collection of talent might have something to do with the fact that this movie, while entertaining, feels rather all over the place. The plot begins as a fairly straightforward tale: Dougray Scott plays a slightly nutty British code breaker. As one of the secret legion of geniuses who break German codes during the war, he’s been on leave for a few weeks to get over a gorgeous young lass (Saffron Burrows) he fell head over heels for, or “nervous exhaustion” as he passes it off to his superiors. In a series of flashbacks, we see Scott fall hopelessly in love with Burrows, who ultimately pushes him aside, refusing to see him or return his letters.

Suddenly, Burrows disappears without a trace. Soon after, Scott learns that the authorities are searching for a spy within the code breakers, someone who’s been leaking crucial information to the German forces. Burrows is suspect numero uno, and Scott begins to desperately search his memory in an effort to recall if he’d actually given her any crucial information himself.
WW II freaks will certainly get off on bits and pieces of this film—in particular, the solid period settings and strict attention to detail (actual code breaking machines have been recreated). As the film moves on, the title’s meaning becomes twofold: as mysterious as the German code breaking is the identity of Burrows and why such a gorgeous young thing would want to sell secrets to those nasty Germans.

Gaining the assistance of Burrows’ frumpier roomie (Winslet), Scott then works to uncover the mystery, trying desperately to elude the police while working to break the newer and more complicated code the Germans have developed.
Apparently not at a loss for variety, Stoppard tosses a car chase into the mix, as well as another developing romance between Scott and Winslet and a tense cat-and-mouse between Scott and Northam, who plays an investigator. Which is great—initially, the film moves along at a fairly nice clip, and the British countryside has never looked more inviting.

But Enigma cools down by the mid-way mark. Instead of feeling compelled by a series of burning questions, the film feels weighted down by an overwrought mystery and a romance that seems less a love story than a slutty infatuation. For a talent pool that runs this deep, that makes the film seem a disappointment. Enigma is well acted and is certainly based on a nifty concept, but does not add up to the sum of its parts. :

Enigma opens Friday, July 5

>> Movie Listings