NASA's Black Women Were Extremely Important

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 2017)

Hidden Figures is a drama film that tells the true story of Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), the three black women who changed the face of NASA during the Space Race of the 60s. Johnson was a mathematical prodigy who helped come up with mathematical solutions to a successful launch and reentry of Friendship 7, the spaceship that took John Glenn into orbit. Vaughan was a mathematician who learned FORTRAN language to become the first woman to be able to run the IBM at NASA, which was integral to the missions. She was also the first black woman to be a supervisor of staff, a feat she had to fight extremely hard to get. Jackson was a mathematician who worked and fought to be the first black female engineer at NASA, desegregating a high school in the process.
The acting between these three women is phenomenal. Each has their own distinct personality, and the chemistry they have for each other helps establish their close friendship. Taraji P. Henson is an especially amazing stand out, as she has to display a knowledge of complicated numbers and equations in a convincing way, which is very hard when the math is as difficult as it is in this film. Her tenacity, which helps her win over Kevin Costner's character, as well as a begrudging respect from a character played by Jim Parsons (not that either of their opinions really matter, but it did help her actually make a difference) is beautiful. I'm glad people are finally starting to notice her as a great actress (my first time falling for her charm and superb acting was in Hustle and Flow, though most people may know her as Cookie from Empire). She has been acting since 1998. Monae is also tenacious, as she fights to meet the impossible standards set upon her to become an engineer, by fighting in court to go to an all white High School's night classes. I'm hoping Janelle Monae actually gets into acting more. She is just as amazing at it as she is with her music. Octavia Spencer is tenacious too, but in a more mother-like sense. She fights for her fellow black women, and pushes for their success, while also fighting for her own. She herself must push back against a character played by Kirsten Dunst, who is your typical "I'm not racist, but" type person. Unfortunately, it seemed Dunst had the least development to work with, and at times seemed a little too one- dimensional. It didn't have much of an impact on the story at all, but I felt it could've been just a little better, as Jim Parsons' character is in the film. In the end though, each woman has an important part to play, and each does so well.
The direction of this movie was done by Theodore Melfi, whose only other director credit was for St. Vincent in 2014. So 20th Century Fox was taking a huge risk, and it payed off. The bright colours of the movie when there was justice prevailing helped set a happier tone to the more muted colour pallet used in scenes that actively showed the oppression. The camera work conveyed both moments of comedy, balanced with dramatic moments. Three black women were the focus of the story, so they were made the focus, allowing the white characters to exist, and work and change, without bogging down the movie with their stories.
This movie is amazing inside and out. One of the best I've seen in a long time, and one I hope empowers women, as well as the black community. It can be inspiring to everyone, sure, but those are the groups it focuses on, and those are the ones that will benefit from the representation the most. Please go support this movie. Let Hollywood know that we want more stories that are representative. Also, if you want, pick up the book that inspired the movie by Margot Lee Shetterly. 100/100