Hidden Figures tells the true story of three African-American women who were working for NASA during the space race. Taraji P. Henson plays Katherine Goble, a mathematician who finds herself working with the men who are calculating trajectories, launch windows, and back-up plans for space flights. Octavia Spencer is Dorothy Vaughan, a leader and computer genius who studies the new IBM systems at NASA. Mary Jackson, portrayed by Janelle Monae, is an engineer. All three women are mothers, wives, and best friends. This film shows their journey through the ranks of NASA as they deal with sexism and racism, all the while helping put men like Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and John Glenn into space.
There are so many great things to talk about. First, the acting was phenomenal. Everyone did wonderfully, but the three leads really shone. Henson, Spencer, and Monae played three really different characters but they were each inspiring, funny, kind, and also relatable in their own ways. In supporting roles, Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, and Kirsten Dunst also did really well.
This movie made me feel DUMB. I mean, I've never been great at math or science, but man! It made me want to learn though. I hope that kids can come away from this movie wanting to learn math or engineering or astronomy. That would be amazing! I also love that this movie is for the family. I think it's important for younger people to see Hidden Figures, not only to see how far we've come as a country but also to see what can be possible, even when everything is set against you.
The writing was also fantastic. I didn't realize, even through all the drama and scientific jargon, how funny this movie would be. There are so many great lines. The cinematography is also very beautiful. The outdoor scenes when we first see the friends together going to work to interior shots of the NASA buildings were all gorgeous and really got you into the time period.
Ultimately there were two huge reasons why I loved Hidden Figures so much. First, it was a historical film about a story that most people are not familiar with. I have a degree in History and I remember sitting in my Capstone class my last year of college and talking about the kinds of historical books we read. That semester we had to read a book on one of the first diaries we have written by a woman. Sarah Osborn was not famous or important in any way; she was just a regular person. And I remember many students in the class remarking that they would not have chosen to read the book themselves and didn't particularly enjoy it because she wasn't well-known and hadn't done anything real special. And I thought that was so dumb. We don't need more biographies on George Washington or Napoleon. We have plenty. If you really want to understand a certain time in history, you don't strictly learn about the leaders and "important" people of the time. You read about the regular people. And that's why I loved this movie. We've had plenty of movies about Kennedy, the leaders of NASA, and especially the astronauts. But we don't have too many films about the people behind the scenes at NASA, particularly black women. And they made such important contributions to the space program, it's high time we learned about them. I appreciate historical films that dare to tell a story that we haven't heard a million times before.
The second reason I really enjoyed this film was the overall positive message. A lot films that get recognized at the Oscars or in the film community, whether they are historical films or not, tend to be the more pessimistic ones. It was refreshing to see an inspiring film in the theaters. Again, I'm so glad that younger audiences can watch this movie. Anyone, young or old, can gain something from this film. In some ways, Hidden Figures feels like a Right Stuff for our day. Through real change and hard work, amazing things can happen. Intelligence and talent can come from anyone. Do yourselves a favor: learn something new and feel inspired. Go watch Hidden Figures.
