Hidden Figures

Movies that take place during the racial segregation era in US History are usually either hit or miss. My experience with those flicks has usually been more reserved to the old school movies such as Do the Right Thing, Remember the Titans, and The Great Debaters. Typically this issue is shown throughout the main characters journey to accomplish certain goals thought to be impossible to achieve for them due to prejudice. I was reminded of this again when I saw the trailer for the newest biopic Hidden Figures. The tone being shown was inspiring and lighthearted along with demonstrating a piece of good chemistry the three main leads have. In addition to that, it also involved application of mathematics and engineering at NASA, which caught my attention since it was my major back at SJSU. After having seen the trailer, hearing all the great buzz about, and noticing that one of the actresses was nominated for a Golden Globe (despite the ignorant announcer saying the title of their movie wrong), I went to the theater during a moment of reprieve from this past massive rainstorm to see how much this movie can lift my spirits as well as see this true story and left it very happy.

Plot: The plot follows the true story of the efforts three African American women who worked professional jobs at NASA during the Space Race in the 1960s. One way to summarize the circumstances of that work environment is something one of the characters says, "NASA: Smart with rockets, slow with advancement." It was not only a male dominated environment but also racially segregated, which is reminded to the audience with certain opportunities the movie takes. The main characters take on obstacles in achieving different kind of impossible dreams that influence more than we realize as the story moves forward. The story is paced pretty well and doesn't go too harsh in terms of showing the segregation conditions as other movies have. Most of the focus revolves around the work the three main leads put into pushing forward with careers thought impossible for them at the time while having some of the screen time outside of the workplace, which could have been developed a bit more but was nice in relieving the stress from the strenuous struggles of prejudice. Overall this is something that needs to be seen in showing real people taking the efforts in achieving what others thought unimaginable by proving themselves in their work ethic and gaining more knowledge in an ever changing world that's unpredictable in bringing new technologies and opportunities that threaten to leave behind those who can't keep up.

Characters: Our three main protagonists of this biopic are Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae). Katherine is a mathematician who's given an opportunity to work with a group attempting to calculate the exact numbers needed for NASA's astronauts to make a complete orbit of the Earth in it's competition with Soviet Union during the Space Race. Taraji does an excellent portrayal of a hard working mathematician struggling with the racial segregation conditions that affect her work ethic and proving herself to the community that looks down on her race, even to the point of having a great standout scene of that frustration exploding. Dorothy is a mathematician who takes an approach in keeping up with new upcoming changes with NASA to be prepared and more qualified in that new opportunity. Octavia also does an excellent job in providing her character strong determination and initiative in her endeavor to research new technological skills to add to her own in order to gain new positions she desires, while also having a great standout scene to look out for. Mary Jackson is an engineer at NASA who takes on obstacles preventing her from taking classes at a white high school in order to be meet new requirements of a higher professional position. Janelle does a great job with her performance and brings a fun kind of energy with her role to the point of almost stealing every scene, despite having less screen time but also had a great standout scene to watch out for. In terms of the supporting cast, a couple of honorable mentions go to Kevin Costner with his great performance, Kirsten Dunst, and Jim Parsons (though his Sheldon persona is starting to get a little stale after 10 seasons of doing it for the Big Bang Theory). Overall the three main leads share great chemistry with each other while having excellent individual performances and the supporting cast did a great job as well with their given roles.

Overall Consensus: Hidden Figures brings in an inspiring true story that's strengthened even further through the performances of the three main leads. ⭑⭑⭑⭑ 🍿

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You are interested in a movie taking place during the racial segregation in US history. You are/were a mathematics or engineering major. You want to watch an inspiring true story involving NASA and the Space Race. You want to watch a true story involving influential African American women. You want to watch a feel good movie. You like watching biopics. You want to see the challenges the main characters go through. You want to see how racial discrimination of the 1960s is portrayed.

Reasons to avoid it: You don't like any of the aforementioned actors. Watching a movie taking place during the racial segregation era make you feel uncomfortable. You aren't interested in a movie with mathematicians and engineers. You aren't interested in NASA. You are getting tired of biopics in general.