If you read my post about the best films to watch on the Fourth of July you would have seen this 2016 film among the list. I don’t want to call this film a surprise hit because it was very good, but I admit I did not expect the film to succeed as much as it did. Nonetheless Hidden Figures, based on the non-fiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly, tells the remarkable true stories about three brilliant women and their contributions during the Space Race. As always spoilers will be ahead. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.
Beginning in 1961 Katherine Globe (Taraji P. Henson), a brilliant mathematician (and single mom of three girls) works at Langley Research Center as a human computer along with her friends Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), who wants to be an engineer, and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this part) a supervisor albeit unofficial. Despite all three women being incredibly smart and gifted, they are segregated because of their skin color and gender.
At this time pressures to send Americans into space continues to grow. Supervisor Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst) assigns Katherine to a space task group headed by Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) to make it possible. Katherine faces a lot of discrimination from her teammates, particularly Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons), but when she solves a seemingly impossible problem Harrison includes her in on meetings and even removes the bathroom sign saying whites only after discovering she has to walk to another building to use the bathroom; also at this time Katherine falls in love and marries Lt. Col Jim Johnson (Mahershala Ali). Dorothy is denied the position of supervisor, despite basically holding the job without the pay. She soon discovers IBM electronic computers are being installed and may soon replace human computers (putting many out of work). Not going to let that stand Dorothy teaches herself, and her co-workers, how the computers work and earns her place as a supervisor. Mary begins working on the space capsule heat shield and notices an immediate flaw. With the encouragement of her supervisor and her husband Levi (Aldis Hodge) she submits a request for an official engineering position and begins to work on getting her engineering degree; however the only school to make that possible is an all-white school which she must go to court for. The women also meet the astronaut that will go up into space John Glenn (Glen Powell). About as far I should go without giving away the rest of the movie.
When I first saw the trailers for Hidden figures I thought “this looks good, I hope this does well.” Boy did it exceed my expectations. Henson, Spencer and Monáe are absolutely fabulous as the trio of women who are not going to anything or anyone get in their way; not gonna lie and say I wasn’t cheering for them when I was watching the movie in theaters by silently clapping and whispering “you go girl” a lot. I was also very impressed with Costner and Ali’s performances in this film. Dunst and Parsons were as well great as they eventually released how ignorant they were being towards the woman; which probably wasn’t easy for them to admit. The writing and cinematography was excellent, but my favorite part was at the end when it is revealed just what an impact Katherine Johnson had on NASA for years after the first mission. Now the film, like others based on true stories, is not 100 percent accurate; which is why I recommend reading the book before watching the film. Hidden Figures was nominated for three Oscars: Best Supporting Actress for Spencer, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture, nominated for two Golden Globes (Supporting Actress for Spencer and Best Score and winning the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) for its outstanding cast (Spencer was also nominated for her role.) While I might not call this a must see right this minute, Hidden Figures is a fantastic historical drama movie and I would highly recommend watching it whenever you can.
Films or Television Worth Watching 