Movie Review: Hidden Figures directed by Theodore Melfi

NASA, the Space Race, and genius mathematicians. Most of us, of a certain age, have seen the first space flight by the Russians and the bar that was set for the American space program. The race was on in earnest. Three women stepped up and into this world with little hesitation.  Katherine Johnson (Taraji Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) confronted not only the racism of the 1960’s, but lack of recognition as women and the introduction of IBM computer systems. Pre-IBM, women employed by NASA to do the mathematical computations for space flight missions, were known collectively, and rather dismissively, as 'computers'. Despite these challenges, these three women maintained and built family life, and continued to move forward educationally and within their careers. They each carved their niches within NASA - an all white, mostly male world where there were Colored Bathrooms and Colored labels everywhere. When a project was given direction or thanks, the women, whether black or white, were not recognized - always expected to work just as hard. As Katherine Vaughn would say - ‘make yourself indispensable’. 

Al Harrison (Kevin Kostner), a character mostly based on Robert C. Gilruth, the head of the Space Task Group at Langley Research Center at Hampton, Virginia, recognized mathematical genius, not necessarily black or white, male or female. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Was this a fun movie? Their stories showed the laughter in family life, some amusement when milestones were reached over top of male egos and some very precious romance. This story, a piece of unspoken history, is based on the book Hidden Figures written by Margot Lee Shetterly.

“Their path to advancement might look less like a straight line 

and more like some of the pressure distributions and orbits 

they plotted, but they were determined to take a seat at the table.”

~ Margo Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures, The American Dream

 and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians 

Who Helped Win the Space Race

Cast:
Taraji P. Henson - Katherine Johnson
Octavia Spencer - Dorothy Vaughn
Janelle  Monáe - Mary Jackson
Kevin Costner - Al Harrison
Kristen Dunst - Vivian Michael
Jim Parsons -   Paul Stafford