Hidden Figures
by Allison Schroeder (screenplay), Theodore Melfi (screenplay), and Margot Lee Shetterly (based on the book by)
Levantine Films
Oh, trust me, we weren’t gonna let this movie go by without telling you ALL ABOUT IT.
This is based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly (as reviewed by Carrie here) about three Black women who helped shaped the space program: Katherine Johnson, a mathematical genius who figured out how to get John Glenn back out of space; Mary Jackson, the first Black female engineer at NASA; and Dorothy Vaughn, the first Black female supervisor and one of the early Fortran programmers. This movie is about the hidden contributions, and how change happens because people make it happen.
It stars Taraji P. Henson as Katherine, Octavia Spencer as Dorothy, and Janelle Monáe as Mary, along with Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, Kirsten Dunst, and Mahershala Ali. The time frame is around the launch of Friendship 7 and John Glenn’s trip as the first American into space. NASA employed a number of women as “computers” – people who would perform calculations by hand – and a number of those women were Black. Katherine Johnson was brought from that pool to the Space Task Group, because they needed someone who could do analytic geometry. Katherine could. In her head.
All three of them endure life in the segregated South: separate bathrooms and coffee pots, needing to get a court order to attend engineering classes at a segregated school, being passed over for promotions (even though they’re doing the work), and just not getting the respect they deserve for the work they do. At one point, Kirsten Dunst tells Dorothy, Octavia Spencer’s character, “You know I don’t have anything against y’all.” (in a perfect summation of White Feminism), and Dorothy looks at her for a long minute before responding “You know, I think you believe that.”
Katherine has to run for half a mile to use the bathroom because that’s the only colored bathroom in the complex. She and all the other women quietly take the indignities, large and small, because they have to. There’s no real other option for them but to be twice as good and hope for half the recognition. And they did! They fought their way to the top, and they made sure to bring other women with them. They all championed women and women of color in NASA. When faced with the reality of a mechanical computer taking the place of her human computers, Dorothy Vaughn learned how to code and taught her crew how to as well – computer programming was considered pink collar until bros took it over.
But these ladies are not only mathematicians in this film. They have inner lives and families. Interwoven through the narrative is Katherine’s romance with her husband, Jim Johnson. When they meet, she’s a widow with three adorable girls, and she slowly allows him into her life (after she sets him down for under-estimating her intelligence- a mistake he never made again, I’m sure). But all the men (and white people) in this movie are there in service to the stories of these amazing Black women.
The acting is top notch – Taraji P. Henson is just…. I don’t really have any words for her, except sublime? When Katherine can no longer take the raft of shit she’s expected to, she has this speech which stunned my theater into silence. Octavia Spencer is a consummate professional, and Janelle Monáe! She’s having a HELL of a year between this and Moonlight.
The script does a nice job of weaving in the events of the Civil Rights movement in the background- what’s on TV, what’s happening around them. It also doesn’t pull many punches on the reality of living with segregation. But just as important, you see the rich, full lives these women lead. They are friends, they are family, they have each other’s backs when no one else does precisely because no one else does.
I can’t in good conscience call this Own Voices – the movie was written and directed by a white dude, but it’s sensitively done. He doesn’t make Kevin Costner a white savior; he’s a guy trying to get the damn job done. The women are the center of the story, without reservation.
Katherine Johnson was so good at her job that John Glenn would not fly until she checked the coordinates that the IBM computer spit out. He trusted her numbers more than the machines. Sometimes it seems like we got to space in a tin can held together with duct tape, and the hopes and dreams and talents of a nation. An entire nation, all of us, even though a number of those talents were hidden from posterity. They are no longer hidden, and a whole generation of girls are going to see how their foremothers were vital to the Space Race. I can’t wait to see what they do now.
Hidden Figures is in theaters now and you can find tickets (US) at Fandango and Moviefone.
Oh this movie was so good! I loved that the theatre was full when I saw it and that a huge chunk of the audience was teenage girls of every background.
I loved the friendship between the women and that the men in their lives supported, loved and respected them – that Johnson gave a good grovel over his early assumption that girls can’t do math.
It was also poignant, while watching this, to note that John Glenn had died only a few weeks earlier. I’m not old enough to recall the Mercury program, but I do remember the Apollo missions and the moon landings. What a shame that, idealogical issues aside (gotta beat those commies), we can’t be that excited about something so positive today.
I saw this yesterday and agree with the rating.
However, since I’m reading the book, I did find the fact they’d moved all these events forward for convenience a bit distracting. (Understandable, since some of these events happened way before it was even NASA.)
I also found at least one instance of Costner’s character a bit too white savioury. (The bit where he solves the bathroom problem. More cinematic than reality.)
I loved this movie. It does an amazing job of balancing different emotions, from rage and helplessness to triumph. It also, as the review said, shows both the personal side of the three main characters’ lives as well as their professional challenges and achievements. I’m recommending this movie to everyone I know.
Also, the line, “It’s not because we wear skirts, it’s because we wear glasses” may be my new personal motto.
I saw this last night and just loved it. I think I had goosebumps the entire movie and almost cried several times. I must read the book!
I took my 9 year old to see this and she found it very inspiring. Take your daughters to see it. If you don’t have a daughter, take your nieces, cousins, or friends.
Can’t wait to see this! I particularly appreciate showing the protagonists families, friends and communities. Too often these are missing when African Americans appear in movies.
One of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time! Love to see women’s stories get told & this should be required viewing. (The book is worth reading too.)
I live in Hampton, VA where the movie takes place. It was a real pleasure to see it here. The movie theater was packed and my daughter and I found ourselves wondering if any of the people in the theater had known these women or their families. The audience clapped and cheered throughtout the movie. We urged the women on, shouted at the indignities they had to put up with, and felt a sense of community pride as these women earned the rights to perform their jobs. What a wonderful movie!
Sounds like a great movie. I thought I would organise my sisters ( one of whom is a retired mathematician) , my niece and her 2 daughters to go to see it for a girls outing. Just one question: the description says ” coarse language” and l’m wondering if it’s suitable for a 11-12 year old. Would appreciate some advice from those of you who have seen it as to whether the film is suitable for, and will appeal to, that age group. Thank you in advance.
I saw the movie yesterday and think it would be fine for a 12-year old. I don’t remember swearing at all, although since my kids are grown I don’t notice quite as much as I used to. Even if there is, all the positives far outweigh that possible negative.
@Frances, there are many websites that give specific information about content for parents and other adults who want to take kids to a movie. For example, check out IMDb’s take:
Sorry, the HTML tag barfed. The IMDb link is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/parentalguide .
COMPLETELY appropriate for an 11-12 yr old. I took my 11 yr old girl. There were kids 8 or 9 yrs old. I don’t really know what “coarse language” they’re referring to – It was very, very, very southern polite all the way through. I don’t think there was one profanity – maybe one ‘hell’ and one ‘damn’? A handful of double-entendres, and one woman admires John Glenn’s physique, and one kiss.
Always have to remember, the MPAA raters that clutch their pearls about ‘coarse language’ will let gruesome violence pass on a PG-13 but give a picture an R if there’s nonviolent nudity. I personally would rather hear the F word or see some boobs than watch someone’s head get blown off.
Cannot wait to see this movie. Almost picked up the book at the airport yesterday but I am on book lockdown till I get a page of my TBR finished.
Thank you @Molly-in -MD, @ Anna Richland and @ chacha1 for your feedback and guiding me to that excellent IMDB site. As my son in in his 30s I am quite out of touch with the nuances of PG ratings so really appreciated the advice. One of my niece’s daughters just turned 9 and the other older daughter loves science and math so I think this will be fun movie outing for the females in the family.
@chacha1 and Frances: Off topic, but if you get a chance you might want to check out the 2006 documentary “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” about the MPAA ratings, and the way they are DEEPLY [word that will get a film an automatic R rating]-up.
So good! Inspiring at a time when we need it.
Just saw it and want to show it to all my nieces, who don’t have a clue.
We forget our own history too easily, and to our great peril.