Hidden Figures – Inspirational film which depicts a difficult time in American history

Rating: 8/10 (21 February 2017)

This is the little known true story of three women who worked behind the scenes for NASA at a time in the early 1960's when Russia and USA were in the midst of a space race.
This is a biographical drama starring three strong Afro-American women, who were employed to calculate the mathematical risks related to sending an astronaut into orbit. These women were either engineers or effectively human computers. Each were obviously being held back in their careers because of the institutional racism that existed at NASA at the time. Each of the women presented solid characters, who had their own individual challenges, but also had great collective chemistry.
The film demonstrated racism, sexism and segregation themes while we see the girls very effectively overcome their diversity and maintain their dignity. It was interesting to notice how Kevin Costner's character was obviously blind to the racism around him at NASA until he is directly confronted with it, but we also see that he deals with the situations admirably.
So in summary, this is an inspirational film which depicts a difficult time in history if you were a woman and especially black, and proves that women can do maths if they wear glasses. A feel-good film with a great soundtrack.
Recommended, especially for a younger audience.