The Stars Behind the Moon

Rating: 8/10 (6 December 2018)

Movie Review of Hidden Figures by Theodore Melfi
When remembering the space-race, most ponder only of the brave and heroic astronauts, but what about the people who beat the odds to put them up there: the stars behind the moon? Directed by Theodore Melfi, the movie, Hidden Figures, follows the lives of three black women working in the space program, despite living in an environment full of racism and sexism. All three of these extraordinary women ended up helping the Apollo 11 mission, which launched Americans to the Moon. They were the true stars, but their story was unknown, their legacy was overshadowed by those in the limelight. Melfi shot the movie through the eyes of these black women in order to spread the important and valuable theme, what is on the inside matters the most. As a result, though, the movie cannot focus as much on the overall effect of institutionalized discrimination faced by the main characters during this time period.
By setting Hidden Figures through the eyes of black women working at NASA in the 1960s, Melfi was able to distill the discrimination faced by certain people in the scientific community into a digestible format. With this, the audience is taught the valuable lesson that it doesn't matter where one comes from, but what they are made of and their perseverance. This breathes true value into this movie, elevating it from merely entertainment to something extraordinary. By seeing what is going on in their environment and contrasting it with what happens in the modern day, one can really understand why what is on the inside matters. Melfi doesn't just teach this lesson, but shows it by implementing valuable interactions and dialogues between the women and people at work, and how they changed their ideals with their immense amount of capability.
Hidden Figures was shot through a perspective that isn't often covered, and that could be a positive when this is addressed in the correct way. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for this movie. The movie shows how people are discriminating against women and people of color, especially when they are doing something extraordinary/out of the status quo. In order to accurately show this to the viewer, Melfi could have shown how these challenges affected these women on more personal levels rather than focusing on professional ones. Doing so would help with Melfi showing what his lesson really means on all levels.
In conclusion, Hidden Figures was a well made movie that has deeply important themes, yet this movie could have focused more on what the characters were truly experiencing rather than how they turned heads. Melfi brought back the stories of these three women whose role in the Apollo 11 mission was overshadowed by more popular legacies. Melfi essentially brought light to these stars hidden behind our ascent to the moon.