Arts & Entertainment

Tragic hero

Film tells story of Alan Turing — from cracking Nazi code, to chemical castration and suicide

Published

13 years ago

October 11, 2012

Santiago Melli-Huber

Patrick Sammon, right, on the set of his new docu-drama ‘Codebreaker’ in London. (Photo by Marc Sethi)

Scientist cracks codes to help defeat Germany during World War II, essentially laying the groundwork for modern computer science, but is busted for being gay and in 1950s England is chemically castrated and eventually commits suicide.

It’s a tragedy of epic proportions but such is the little-heard biography of Alan Turing. A new 81-minute docudrama about his life called “Codebreaker” debuts next week in Washington.

Novice filmmaker Patrick Sammon — a former executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans — says Turing’s story needs to be told.

“As I sorted through my hundred ideas,” Sammon says, “Turing’s idea quickly came to the top of the pile, because it was an amazing story, and I thought everyone should know about Turing’s contribution to our world. And then I realized there really hadn’t been a film like this done about him.”

The film (turingfilm.com) was released in the U.K. last year. Its U.S. premiere is Wednesday at the Georgetown AMC. It’s sponsored by the D.C. Center and tickets are available to the public (todpix.com/codebreaker). An advance screening and discussion were held last week at the National Press Club on the centenary of Turing’s birth and the film will also screen in New York on Oct. 25. Beyond that, TODpix, a distribution company, is working with grassroots organizations across the country to find audiences for additional showings.

Sammon, who’s gay, hopes to reach pockets of both the LGBT and tech communities to build a demand for additional screenings, culminating in “A Night with Alan Turing,” featuring screenings in 50 cities on Nov. 8.

Turing grew up in England in the early 20th century. He quickly stood out as a bright student and his teachers praised his “considerable powers of reasoning.” He developed a strong bond with fellow student Christopher Morcom. According to David Leavitt, novelist and Turing historian, “Morcom was, I think, more important to Turing than any other human being in his life. Turing was probably, in an adolescent way, quite in love with him.”

Patrick Sammon, Codebreaker, Alan Turing, Log Cabin Republicans, Washington Blade, gay news

Patrick Sammon (Photo courtesy Sammon)

When Morcom died at a young age, Turing delved into his work as a sort of tribute to his late friend. As years passed, Turing developed the idea of the computer, broke encrypted German army messages during World War II and laid the groundwork for the future of artificial intelligence and mathematical biology.

Later in life, Turing had an affair with a 19-year-old named Arnold Murray, a friend of whose burgled Turing’s house early in 1952. Turing reported the crime, and the circumstances surrounding it, to the police. At the time, homosexuality was illegal in England and they charged Turing with indecency. Turing opted for hormonal treatment over prison, resulting in serious physical and mental side effects. Shortly after ending treatment, Turing committed suicide at the age of 41.

Sammon moved to Washington in 2003 to become a documentary filmmaker, but his career took a detour when he began working for, and ultimately running, the Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative organization that advocates for equal rights for the LGBT community. During this time, Sammon amassed many ideas for films. When he launched Story Center Productions in 2009, he partnered with a U.K.-based production company to help with his first film, “Codebreaker.”

He spent about six months in London during the production, which he’s been focused on full time since 2010. He factored in some living expenses into the production cost, which was funded largely from Channel 4 in the U.K. and also on his savings. Other donors, foundations and corporations including Intel and Google helped finance the project.

Sammon calls the film a “drama-documentary,” saying, “A third of it is drama, recreation, and then two-thirds is documentary. It’s a good mix of those two elements, and I think they play well together.”

It features a myriad of interviews with Turing’s relatives and associates, historians and industry professionals. His work is widely recognized as the foundation of all modern-day technology. In the film, Google’s Alma Whitten describes his contributions as timeless, saying, “They’re the things that are fundamentally true, so they’re always going to be with us, in the same way that the things that Galileo and Newton contributed to physics are always going to be with us.”

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak credits Turing with making possible all subsequent technology. “Alan Turing was sort of at the top of everything that ever developed,” Wozniak says in the film. “All the future research that was done by people, building real equipment that can compute.”

The interviews are juxtaposed with dramatizations of therapy sessions from Turing’s last year, while Turing was undergoing chemical castration. Ed Stoppard (“Upstairs, Downstairs”) plays Turing opposite Henry Goodman (“Taking Woodstock”) as Franz Greenbaum, Turing’s psychiatrist and friend.

Production for the dramatizations lasted only five days, but Stoppard’s performance is a stand-out piece of the film. He dramatizes the internal struggle that drove Turing to take his own life. Stoppard’s sometime-sardonic, sometimes-reflective comments mask a pain his character carried with him.

Sammon’s passion for the story stemmed from the injustice Turing faced despite his contributions to society.

“Here you have someone who is one of the key people who helped the Allies win World War II by breaking Germany’s naval enigma code,” Sammon says. “Then you have the technology world really giving Turing credit for creating the intellectual foundation for modern computer science. The paper he wrote in 1936 really laid down the key ideas for the modern computer.”

Sammon goes on to describe the “Shakespearean tragedy” that followed. “In spite of his genius, in spite of his amazing contribution to the war, the fact that he was gay, the government persecuted him because of it.”

During the course of a year of chemical castration, Turing took daily doses of estrogen. Effects of the treatment included shrunken testicles, a loss of his libido, a loss of body hair and the development of breasts. Months after the treatment ended, Turing’s body had not returned to its normal state. Sammon believes Turing elected the hormone therapy, in place of a year in prison, to avoid being taken away from his work.

Sammon, who says he has “a lot of other ideas” for future film projects though he’s focused on the “Codebreaker” distribution for now, says it’s important to recognize the historical accomplishments of the LGBT community and foster a more inclusive society. At the same time, he believes all people, regardless of sexual orientation, should admire Turing as a hero and a genius.

“I admire him very much because he was unconventional,” Sammon says. “I respect Turing for the fact of how unconventional he was, and he wasn’t afraid to be different. The sad part is society, at the time, didn’t have tolerance for differences.”

Leavitt describes Turing as a tragic hero we must learn from.

“His refusal to compromise or lie, under such circumstances, was nothing less than heroic — yet we must remember that, as a consequence of his heroism, he was erased from history for many years. Nor is the institutionalized hatred of gay men and lesbians any less of a reality today than it was in 1953. Even as we honor Alan Turing, we must be vigilant. We must not let ourselves lapse into complacency. This could happen again.”

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Galleries

BMA celebrates enduring influence of Henri Matisse

Exhibit features iconic works juxtaposed with gay artist’s paintings inspired by French legend

Published

21 hours ago

March 14, 2026

Kevin Naff

‘Tom’ by Louis Fratino (left) and ‘Large Reclining Nude’ by Henri Matisse (right) reveal the ways in which the legendary French visual artist influenced the young American painter, from the use of light and pattern to the choice to focus on everyday subjects.

The Baltimore Museum of Art is on a roll.

After landing the coveted Amy Sherald “American Sublime” exhibit (through April 5) when the National Portrait Gallery attempted to censor her work, the BMA is debuting a breathtaking and thought-provoking new exhibit, “To See This Light Again” featuring master works by Henri Matisse paired with new paintings by Louis Fratino, who is inspired by the French modernist legend.

Fratino, who’s gay, was born in Annapolis and studied at Baltimore’s Maryland Institute College of Art. As an art student, he found himself spending lots of time in the BMA’s Matisse galleries, the largest collection of his works in the world, encompassing more than 1,600 paintings, drawings, and illustrations. At just 33, Fratino has enjoyed a “meteoric” rise in the art world, according to BMA Director Asma Naeem, who introduced Fratino at an event previewing the exhibit last week. This is Fratino’s first major U.S. exhibition, but he was featured in the 2024 Venice Biennale and his paintings can be found at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and elsewhere.

The exhibit aims to explore Matisse’s lasting influence by juxtaposing his works with Fratino’s.

“It’s the idea that art manifests a kind of attention or a vision for your life, that it can be a beautiful life despite certain circumstances that may be happening around you,” Fratino said in a statement released by the BMA. “In Matisse’s case, he lived through the First and Second World Wars. Painting can confirm that life is beautiful and that it’s worth looking at.”

The influences are apparent, from the use of light and pattern to the choice to focus on everyday objects and subjects. And the exhibit is unabashedly queer with male couples depicted in a couple of paintings. Fratino told the Blade that as an out gay man, it was important to embrace that visibility.

He describes a “joy of looking” at the male form, just as Matisse portrayed female figures that often celebrated the tradition of painting nudes.

In “Tom,” Fratino captured his subject in casual repose that includes a bowl and spoon in the foreground. It is presented alongside Matisse’s iconic “Large Reclining Nude.” Tom’s checkered shirt echoes the blue and white grid background of the Matisse work and both figures are holding casual, relaxed poses.

“Fratino and Matisse: To See This Light Again” runs through Sept. 6 at the Baltimore Museum of Art (artbma.org.)

For Matisse lovers, the BMA has another exhibit debuting March 29 titled, “Matisse in Vence: The Stations of the Cross” featuring more than 80 drawings revealing how the artist “shaped his late‑career masterpiece, the Stations of the Cross mural, for the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence, France.”

Books

Laverne Cox, Liza Minnelli among authors with new books

A tome for every taste this reading season

Published

2 days ago

March 13, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

Spring is a great time to think about vacations, spring break, lunch on the patio, or an afternoon in the park. You’ll want to bring one (or all!) of these great new books.

So let’s start here: What are you up for? How about a great new novel?

If you’re a mystery fan, you’ll want to make reservations to visit “Disaster Gay Detective Agency” by Lev AC Rosen (Poisoned Pen Press, June 2). It’s a whodunit featuring a group of gay roommates, one of whom is a swoony romantic. Add a mysterious man who disappears and a murder, of course, and you’ve got the novel you need for the beach.

Don’t discount young adult books, if you want something light to read this spring. “What Happened to Those Girls” by Carlyn Greenwald (Sourcebooks Fire, June 30) is a thriller about mean girls and a camping trip that goes terribly, bloodily wrong. Meant for teens ages 14 and up, young adult books are breezier and lighter fare for the busy grown-up reader.

If you loved “Boyfriend Material” and “Husband Material,” you’ll be eager for the next installment from author Alexis Hall. “Father Material” (Sourcebooks Casablanca, June 2) takes Luc and Oliver to the next step. First was dating. Then was marriage. Is it time for the sound of pitter-patter on the kitchen floor?

Maybe something even lighter? Then how about a book of essays – like “The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Gay” bycomedian and writer Eliot Glazer (Gallery Books, Aug. 11). It’s a book of essays on being gay today, the irritations, the joys, and fitting in. Be aware that these essays may contain a bit of spice – but isn’t that what you want for your reading pleasure anyhow, hmmm?

But okay, let’s say you want something with a little more heft to it. How about a biography?

Look for “Transcendant” by Laverne Cox (Gallery Books, June 9), or “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This” by Liza Minnelli (Grand Central Publishing, March 10), and “Every Inch a Lady” by Audrey Smaltz with Alina Mitchell (Amistad, July 14). Keep your eyes open for “Without Prejudice: My Life as a Gay Judge” by Harvey Brownstone (ECW Press, May 26) or “The Double Dutch Fuss” by Phill Branch (Amistad, June 2).

Then again, maybe you want some history, or something different.

So here: look for “Queer Saints: A Radical Guide to Magic, Miracles, and Modern Intercession” by Antonio Pagliarulo (Weiser, June 1) for a little bit of faith-based gay. Music lovers will want “Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000” by Barry Walters (Viking, May 12). Activists will want “In the Arms of Mountains: A Memoir of Land, Love, and Queer Resistance in Red America” byformer Idaho state Sen. Cole Nicole LeFavour (Beacon Press, May 26).

And if these books aren’t enough, then be sure to check with your favorite bookseller or librarian. They’ll have exactly what you’re in the mood to read. They’ll find what you need for that patio, beach towel, or easy chair.

Music & Concerts

Gaga, Cardi B, and more to grace D.C. stages this spring

Shake off your winter doldrums at a local concert

Published

2 days ago

March 13, 2026

Evan Caplan

Lady Gaga plays Capital One Arena on March 23. (File photo courtesy of Might Real Agency)

D.C. shakes off its winter blues this spring as the music scene pops off. We all know the big star is coming: Lady Gaga will perform at Capital One Arena on March 23. But plenty of other stars, big and small, will grace D.C. stages, including many LGBTQ and ally artists.

March

3/15, 9:30 Club, St. Lucia – Indie electronic music project known for its synth-pop sound, which blends ‘80s influences with electronic and indie rock elements.

3/31, Lincoln Theatre, Perfume Genius – Indie/pop singer/songwriter Mike Hadreas, also known as Perfume Genius, has toured with a full band, but he is stripping things back for this tour.

April

4/8, Capital One, Cardi B. Cardi B, from New York, unapologetic and proud, is the first solo female artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. This year, she’s on her Little Miss Drama Tour, in support of her second studio album, “Am I the Drama?”

4/13, Lincoln Theatre, The Naked Magicians. Australia’s The Naked Magicians are two performers who deliver live magic and laughs while wearing nothing but a top hat and a smile.

4/18, Capital One, Florence and the Machine. Longstanding indie rock back from Great Britain, much-loved for lead singer Florence’s powerful vocals. On their Everybody Scream Tour.

4/16, Capital One, Demi Lovato. Singer/songwriter from Texas, who came out as nonbinary, is traveling on her “It’s Not That Deep Tour.”

4/21, The Anthem, Calum Scott. Platinum-selling gay singer/songwriter Calum Scott released his latest project, Avenoir, last year. Scott rose to fame in 2015 after competing on Britain’s Got Talent, where he performed a cover of Robyn’s hit “Dancing on My Own“.

4/26, Atlantis, Caroline Kingsbury. American queer pop musician from Los Angeles. She released her debut album in 2021, and has two additional EPs. She’s played Lollapalooza 2025 and All Things Go 2025, as well as gone on a co-headlining U.S. tour with MARIS. Shock Treatment is her latest EP.

4/26, Anthem, Raye. This bisexual artist, known for her current chart-topping “”Where Is My Husband!” single, blends pop, jazz, R&B, and more.

4/30, Union Stage, Daya. This bisexual singer/songwriter is on her “Til Every Petal Drops Tour,” touring the album of the same name that was released last year.

May

5/1, The Anthem, Joost Klein. Eurovision comes to D.C. in Joost Klein: Originally a Youtuber, he was selected to represent the Netherlands at Eurovision in 2024 with his song “Europapa.” He released a new album on New Year’s Day.

5/1, Fillmore, MIKA. MIKA is on his Spinning Out Tour. Born in Beirut and raised in both Paris and London, MIKA sings in multiple languages and has co-hosted Eurovision.

5/7, 9:30 Club, COBRAH. Clara Christensen, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, record producer, and club queen, making electronic dance music.

5/19, Atlantis, Grace Ives. New York-born singer/songwriter, known for her high-energy synth/electronic, bedroom-pop-style music.

June

6/2, The Anthem, James Blake. English crooner got big from his self-titled debut album in 2011. He won two Grammys and just released his 7th album,Trying Times, in March.