Inspiring, Heartfelt, and Unintentionally Timely

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2017)

Frontrunner for my favorite film of the awards season, Hidden Figures contains heavy doses of irony that may not have been intentional at the time of production. Set during the transition to the 1960s, with skinny ties and Jim Crow laws, the zeitgeist of the cold war, and the pressure cooker of the U.S. space program after Sputnik, it was a time before electronic computing was commonplace. Unimaginably, the math for the orbital mechanics of the Mercury missions was being performed on slide rules, pencil, and paper. The revelation of this film is that some of the human "computers" that did this vital work were African American women, who despite their brilliant contributions, were segregated and marginalized because of their color and gender.
Chalk up one for amazing timing One cannot ignore that for these past few months, making America "great again" has, for an outspoken intolerant minority, meant reverting back to this white male-dominated social structure with all of its overt sexism and racism. In this light, seeing the inhumane treatment visited upon the hardworking heroes of this film moves beyond sepia-toned history and elicits real, contemporary rage.
The superb cast is lead by Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer, who are exceptional and nomination worthy as real-life mathematician Katherine G. Johnson and supervisor Dorothy Vaughan. Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) is terrific as the socially awkward love interest Colonel Jim Johnson. Kirsten Dunst turns in a surprisingly solid performance as a hardened by-the-book supervisor, and Kevin Costner thankfully melts believably into his role as chief of the space program. Jim Parsons' portrayal of an overtly racist engineer is sadly wooden, and is the only weak spot in an otherwise strong ensemble.
Theodore Melfi's film is definitely a glossy Hollywood telling, and effectively pulls at the heart strings with every element, but the work does not descend too frequently into unnecessary sentimentality. Scenes of the heroines' home lives feel sweet but not overly romanticized, and scenes of their hardships are more matter-of-course than melodramatic. The film is beautifully lensed by Mandy Walker, and has a wonderful kinetic energy. This is robust, big studio filmmaking certainly, but it has at its center memorable real heroes, an inspiring story, and great heart.
Highly recommended! Go, and take the kids.