A fine history on NASA and racism

Rating: 7/10 (19 February 2018)

Based on a true story: In 1961, three black women are friends who work at a research center for NASA in the state of Virginia. All are brilliant mathematicians and have greater qualifications that would exceed those of their current jobs. They include Katherine (Goble) Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson), a genius mathematician, Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), an aspiring engineer, and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), a computer expert and aspiring supervisor. "Hidden Figures" is based on the non-fiction book by Margot Lee Shetterley.
This movie is an entertaining piece of NASA history (including John Glenn's first launch into space) with a special focus. It is occasionally jingoistic ('we gotta beat those Russians in the space race') and with occasional cheesy music to underline a budding romance which is easily foreseen. But it is ultimately a fine story that very ably highlights the stresses and frustrations of regular working life with the added humiliation of segregation in the workplace.
Indeed, some of the people in the film were composite characters from the book and there were some incidents in the film that didn't actually happen. One of the most over-the-top "Hollywood" scenes is one where Kevin Costner (as Katherine's boss) is wielding a pick axe (those who've seen the movie will know what I mean). Despite these liberties with the truth, the scenes of segregation still had the right effect of outraging the viewer. The highlight is a scene in which Katherine, who had been timid up to a point, has a perfect meltdown scene (Hanson's best moment in a fine performance). Part of this build-up included the stress of having a very annoying senior peer (played by Jim Parsons) who knows he is less smart than she is and tries to dominate her as much as he can. (Incidentally, "Loving", another movie released in late 2016 also highlighted racist laws in Virginia during the same time period.)
The directing by Theodore Melfi is rather conventional in a Hollywood way yet the effect worked by the end as I wanted to stand up and cheer during the closing credits. After the film, I pondered the question: how many other hidden histories are waiting to be told?