Hidden Figures (2016)

☆ ☆ ☆ 

Hidden Figures (2016) – T. Melfi

A feel-good movie about mathematics, the space race, and the civil rights struggle for African-American women – based on a true story.  Prior to the installation of their first IBM mainframe (depicted in the film), NASA used human “computers” to check and double-check calculations; the film follows a group of three of these African American women from the “coloured computer” group.  Taraji P. Henson plays Katherine G. Johnson who assisted with advanced calculations for John Glenn’s first orbit around the Earth (and subsequently the Apollo 11 mission and flights in the space shuttle era).  Henson’s experiences in the all-white NASA offices and engineering labs shown here are, as expected, sometime unpleasant (as when she is snubbed by white colleagues) but sometimes positive (as when she is supported by white colleagues, such as boss Al Harrison, played by Kevin Costner).  Janelle Monáe plays Mary Jackson who successfully became NASA’s first African American female engineer (after challenging Virginia’s segregated school’s policy).  Octavia Spencer plays Dorothy Vaughan who became NASA’s first African American female supervisor, running the IBM computer lab.  Although their stories are true, they remained largely unheralded until this film (which Johnson was alive to see at age 98) – so it is worth trumpeting their stereotype-breaking successes.  The movie itself sticks to the feel-good playbook, providing a bit of backstory to each of the characters, a little romance for Johnson, showing their lives outside of work, a few ugly incidents (racism), and, of course, some tension before everything falls into place as a result of the hard work of these women. And it’s all set to some rousing music (coordinated by Pharrell Williams).  In the end, NASA benefits, the US moves ahead of the Soviets in the space race, and best of all, these women also experience gratifying personal success.  However, this is the Hollywood version of their story, so don’t expect anything edgy or challenging.