Movie Review - Hidden Figures
BASED on the real story of the women of colour who worked behind the scenes at Nasa during the height of the space race with Russia in the 60s, this story is not only captivating but also inspirational.
The story revolves around three African-American women – mathematicians Katherine Gobel ( Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) who are part of a department in Nasa referred to as “coloured computers”.
Often assigned to different departments on a temporary basis to help their (primarily male) white counterparts, the women are mostly invisible, until these three special ones managed to make breakthroughs in the industry with their intelligence and drive.
Most of the movie concentrates on maths prodigy Katherine, a soft-spoken woman who suffers a lot of indignities in her life.
But her determination and ability to think outside the box soon attract the attention of Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), the director of the Space Task Group, as well as John Glenn (Glen Powell), the astronaut who put his trust in her calculations.
Dorothy, on the other hand, has been acting supervisor for her department for a year, but has yet to be formally appointed or receive the pay that comes with her posting.
When IBM computers are brought into her department, she ‘borrows’ a book from the library on Fortran (the programming language) which she not only teaches herself, but also the other women in her department.
Mary, meanwhile, is encouraged by her boss to become an engineer because of her capabilities.
How these women break out of their respective chains to become pioneers in their field, makes up the rest of the story.
A few liberties have been taken in their stories, but the core elements are captured here.
The issues of segregation and sexism are featured as well, and how it served to hold back otherwise brilliant women.
However, the spotlight is on what they managed to achieve, a message that still resonates today, as many of the issues these woman faced are still being faced by individuals today.
Go watch it not just for the story, but also the excellent performances by the cast.