A classy film

Rating: 8/10 (16 February 2017)

Director and co-writer Theodore Melfi and fellow writer Allison Schroeder keep a tight and confident rein on this interesting story that could easily have got bogged down in complicated technical terminology. Or alternatively, it could have veered too much into feel-good mode. Instead, it just tells the great story of how in the early 1960s, three courageous, super- intelligent African American women overcame massive prejudices and social conventions to succeed as important contributors to the NASA space program. Given that most of the audience is not into high level math and physics, the writers explain everything beautifully - way better than in A Beautiful Mind or The Imitation Game. The casting is near-perfect, with Taraji Henson giving an awesome performance as genius mathematician Katherine Johnson, who is not only smart and bold but has many other interesting facets to her life, like finding love again after her first husband died. Janelle Monae, as engineer Mary Jackson, and Octavia Spencer as computer expert Dorothy Vaughan, are both brilliant in portraying equally determined characters in their fields. Kevin Costner is great as their sparky but demanding boss, Al Harrison. Established stars Jim Parsons and Kirsten Dunst have the grace and humility to play quite negative characters in this movie, who blanche at giving the black women a chance, but who eventually do thaw a little in their attitudes. The clothes are a costume designer's dream, but as with the film's set design and music, everything is nicely understated. I was pleased to note that the real Katherine Johnson was still alive when this film came out. Hidden Figures is made with love and affection, and it's a fitting tribute to those pioneer NASA women.