![]() ![]() It’s a standout moment that mathematics and equations can’t quite match in terms of drama. The three leads do fine work, especially in scenes they share together, even if Henson over-relies on frequently resetting her glasses atop her nose to prove scholarly.Ĭostner, in a dependable, studied and unflashy performance (see also his work in “McFarland, USA”), emerges as the silent hero of the story and is given the film’s biggest moment when he takes a crowbar to a sign designating a “colored” bathroom. Vincent”) lends a balanced, steady hand to the story, which builds to John Glenn’s (Glen Powell) launch into space. Otherwise, director Theordore Melfi (“St. (The music cues also tend to be a bit too on-the-nose Pharrell’s “Runnin’ ” soundtracks several of Johnson’s frenzied sprints to the restroom.) “Hidden Figures” takes a mostly casual approach to history and is rarely heavy-handed in its message, save for one scene where a fed up Johnson blows her top in front of her co-workers, an out-of-character moment that screams of awards show preening. She petitions a judge and gets him to allow her to attend the school by buttering him up and telling him his decision will go down in history, a sly way to stroke his ego while subtly exposing the intolerance of the law. ![]() Jackson aims to attend graduate school but cannot without taking classes at the local school, which is only open to white students. (She blames the corporate structure at NASA, but the racial implications of her message are clear.) So Vaughan keeps plugging away, learning FORTRAN in her spare time and making herself indispensable to that rigid corporate structure. Vaughan longs to be given the title of supervisor, which she’s told by the shrill Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst) is simply out of reach. Harrison is described as a hard-nosed, take-no-guff kind of guy, but as played by Costner, he’s the most tolerant, understanding and #woke individual at all of NASA. Johnson is moved up to the Space Task Group, where she is assigned to check the math of a team of white men in white shirts, black pants and black ties, headed up by Al Harrison (Kevin Costner). They are computers - as in those who compute, since computers as we know them today were still in their infancy and took up entire rooms - who are relegated to a basement office on NASA’s campus, far away from the action of the space program.īut their ambitions wouldn’t keep them there for long. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe). Those women are Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Against this backdrop, “Hidden Figures” tells the story of three women who broke down barriers of sex and race and helped put a team of men in space. ![]() “Hidden Figures” unfolds during a crucial time in American history: JFK is president, the Cold War is in full freeze, the space race is on and racial segregation is a fact of life. Soon the women are being given a police escort to their jobs at NASA, where they work as mathematicians, and the table is set for this fun, spirited celebration of the unheralded contributors to America’s space program. You know where things are headed.Įxcept that’s not where they go. It’s Virginia in 1961, and a white police officer pulls up on the ladies and starts asking questions. In the opening minutes of “Hidden Figures,” three African-American women are trying to fix their stalled-out car on the side of a country road. ![]()
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