Hidden Figures

Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, and Jim Parsons
Directed by: Theodore Melfi
Screenplay by: Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
Based on the book by: Margot Lee Shetterly

    This is the story of three African American women who had extremely important roles at NASA in getting the program's first successful space missions off the ground.
    Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), are all extremely smart women who work at NASA as it prepares to launch men into space for the first time, in the early 1960s.  Jim Crow is in full effect all around the South, and NASA in Virginia is no exception.  These three women, in addition to being brilliant minds, also face terrible adversity when trying to rise the ranks at NASA.  It is very hard for them to get the jobs they rightly deserve.  They are all math geniuses and would be very valuable to the missions NASA is trying to accomplish assuming they can get in on the jobs.  Their names may not be the most well known, but they were essential to getting the first Americans into space.
    Any time a movie is made that takes place during the Jim Crow South, we as an American audience are confronted with this country's dark history.  We are confronted with seeing a time in which not everyone enjoyed the same freedoms as we all do today, and it wasn't even all that long ago.  The space program is seen as one of America's greatest achievements in history, and yet even it was not above the laws of Jim Crow.  Hidden Figures is a film about bravery on so many fronts.  It shows in some capacity the bravery of the men who first went to space, but focuses almost entirely on the bravery of these women who were up against an oppressive system.
    This is a film that tries really hard to focus equally on the three main characters, but spends an unequal amount of time on them.  The focus of the story really seems to be on Katherine Johnson.  She has the job of computer in the room with all of the scientist who are trying to figure out how to get people into space.  Dorothy manages the women who are computers in another part of NASA's Virginia campus, and Mary, who works in the engineering department, is trying to become an engineer herself at NASA.  All three of the actresses who play these roles are phenomenal.  They deliver strong and excellent performances, and each bring unique voices to the characters they play.  On a side note, Jim Parsons is also excellent for his role.  Think of him as a more sociable and more normal Sheldon Cooper (from The Big Bang Theory).
    The film is a bit slow in its pacing, but it is a terrific film otherwise.  When I left the theater, I felt like I had actually learned something that was really important.  There is so much to this film.  It tackles so many different issues, such as the space race, and even the beginnings of the civil rights movement.  It tackles the ingenuity of the space program and rampant racism in this country at that time.  It is truly a remarkable film.

I give Hidden Figures an A.

Image Source: WBLR 103.7 RADIO