Date: 2017
Director: Theodore Melfi
Actors/ Characters: Taraji P. Henson/ Katherine G. Johnson, Octavia Spencer/ Dorothy Vaughan, Janelle Monáe/ Mary Jackson, Kevin Costner/ Al Harrison, Kirsten Dunst/ Vivian Mitchell, Jim Parsons/ Paul Stafford
Summary: The story of a team of African-American women mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the US space program.
Review
Three badass, Africa-American women... working at NASA... in the 1960s! Hidden Figures is a true story about Katherine, Dorothy and Mary three black women working in the space program and to sum it up in one word it is truly inspirational.
From the very first scene of the film I was so invested in the stories and struggles of these three women and seeing their relationships on screen was just so enjoyable and hilarious. I loved how the film opened with their car being broken down on the way to work it just summed up the tribulations of their situation for the rest of the film to come. Watching this film you can really tell that three actresses are friends in real life because of the warmth and believability of their performances together. They all work off each other really well and their on screen friendship is so genuine to watch which I really enjoyed.
I loved Taraji P. Henson's performance as Katherine and I felt great empathy and attachment to her throughout the film. She was feisty, independent and incredibly intelligent but I loved how maternal and kind she was as well. The family element of her story added so much more emotion and depth to her character and the scene where she was putting her children to bed and was talking about her deceased husband really moved me. That said, I think Henson's best moment in this film was the breakdown she has in front of the office at NASA when she reveals that she has to run 30 minutes every day to go to the bathroom. The emotion and hopelessness in her performance in this moment was incredible and really tugged on the heart strings.
The feminist aspect of this film was amazing. Being a feminist, I really appreciate how strong and gutsy all the women were in this film. Not only were the women black but the simple fact of their sex put them all at a disadvantage regardless of their ability or skill. I really enjoyed the fact that Dorothy learned how to work the calculation machine so that she wouldn't be out of a job as it displayed how forward thinking and clever she was. The hardships of all the African- American women in this film was so evident and I think the way they were portrayed was executed brilliantly.
I liked the fact that this film did not completely demonise white people like it could have quite easily. Of course, the white people working at NASA did treat the black people with inferiority and snobbery because of the time period they were living in. This had to be done to highlight the discrimination of the time but I thought it was a nice touch to have character development for the white people as well as showing their prejudice from the beginning. The pearl moment with Vivian sums up this character development perfectly I loved this moment and it made me so happy to see this representation.
One of my favourite aspects of this film was the 1960s aesthetic. Everything, down to the costume, props, locations and sets transported me into the era and I loved it. The colours used in this film as well were so vibrant and bright which was really reminiscent of the 1960s and depicted it as I would have imagined it to be.
Comments