African-American Women Making A Difference At The Dawn Of The Space Age

Rating: 10/10 (22 February 2017)

One would think that NASA would be a government institution that would be immune from the social upheavals of the early 1960s. But in that period of time, three distinguished African American women from Hampton, Virginia named Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Jackson, all of whom were incredible geniuses at crunching complex math problems, did indeed shake things up there, fighting not only institutionalized racism but also a touch of misogyny as well. At the same time, it was what these three women did that helped America's manned space program take flight by 1962, and set us on a course towards the Apollo 11 manned landing on the Moon in 1969. Their story is brilliantly told in the film HIDDEN FIGURES, based on the book of the same name by Margot Lee Sheterly.
Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janaelle Monae portray, respectively, Johnson, Vaughn, and Jackson, three women who, as young girls in a much more ultra-segregated South of the mid-1920s, displayed such an extreme aptitude for complex algebra and calculus that got them jobs at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia in 1961. Being incredibly quick at complex math problems that are involved in getting the space program in a position where it could challenge the achievements of the Soviet Union, however, doesn't count for much when they are still made painfully aware of their "place" (separate bathrooms and coffee pots) in a profession that, though becoming a technological juggernaut, is still stuck in an unsavory past. This is what they face from co-workers like those portrayed by Kirstin Dunst and Jim Parsons, though Kevin Costner (portraying NASA station chief Al Harrison) is duly impressed with their skill in calculating all the complexities of launches, orbits, and splashdown angles. The work of the three women takes on added urgency when, on April 17, 1961, Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human being to venture beyond Earth's atmosphere, putting the Soviets well ahead of America, while NASA's Atlas and Redstone rockets either keep going off course or blowing up on the launch pad. For Costner, this means that their work is essential, because he himself must take a lot of the heat from the powers-that-be in Washington for the enormous expenditures that NASA is incurring in such a risky proposition.
The moment of truth comes on February 20, 1962 when, through Henson's lightning calculations, astronaut John Glenn is launched into space in the Friendship 7 space capsule. He manages to get through three orbits; but then, he and the ground crew receive indications that his heat shield may fail upon re-entry. Once more, Henson is put in charge of coming up with a quick solution to hopefully stop Glenn from burning up in the atmosphere, while the entire world holds its collective breath.
What HIDDEN FIGURES tells is a story that only a handful of Americans, if any at all, have ever known about because of all the political and social tumult that went on during the 1960s. Henson, Spencer, and Monae have the tough jobs of portraying the three women's personality quirks, while trying gamely to hide their rage at being so slowly accepted by the white and (with the exception of Dunst) male NASA hierarchy because of being African-American women with sky-high IQ's. They give incredible performances in their roles, as does Costner in what, for any other actor, would seem to be a relatively minor role of the NASA director who is oblivious to his workplace's antiquated caste system until it interferes with America's ability to catch up with the Soviets.
Theodore Melfi, who directed the quirky 2014 comedy drama ST. VINCENT, handles the proceedings quite well, getting solid performances from his cast, including Parsons (best known as the head "geek" on TV's "The Big Bang Theory"); and the film does a good idea at not only taking a pointed look at institutionalized racism, but also mocking it (especially in the ironic and funny opening sequence of an old white Virginia state trooper escorting the three women to Langley a few minutes in). HIDDEN FIGURES is not only a great film for its true-life story, but also a reminder of how much African Americans have always contributed to the greatness of our nation, a fact we still need to be reminded about in the 21st century.