Inspirational feel-good movie

Rating: 7/10 (7 May 2017)

Hidden Figures is a very good film that depicts the story of three computers who happen to be young black women in the racially charged early 1960's. The computers calculated all of the math required to compete against the Russians in the race to space.
The three stars are a super mathematician, an engineer, and a supervisor. Each woman is facing a battle against an immovable object - misogyny, racial prejudice, and a good-old boys network.
Taraji Henson is terrific as Kathryn, the mathematical genius. She was outstanding, especially in one scene where she loses it to decry the silent injustices that she's had to deal with at NASA. Kevin Costner plays her crusty boss, the program leader Al, who slowly but surely starts realizing that things need to change if NASA is going to really work like a team, leverage all skills, and succeed.
Janelle Monae is Mary, who dreams of being an engineer, but there are no women engineers, much less black women. She too has a mentor who sees her grit and skills, and works to support her efforts.
My favorite though was Octavia Spencer as Dorothy, a programmer genius who is the true leader, and she knows it. She dreams of being a supervisor, yet she keeps running into racial prejudice from a white woman supervisor who does not even seem to realize her actions.
The story is sometimes a bit uneven. There's a long love interest story going on for Kathryn. There's John Glenn's story too, and Grisham. Sometimes it seems like there was just a bit too much being crammed into the story.
In the end, the dramatic finish leaves you hoping that things work out for everyone. Just enough suspense and you have a nicely wrapped up feel good movie. You should enjoy Hidden Figures.