An alternate version of this review, originally published for CLTure, was posted on their site on January 4th, 2017.
When 20th Century Fox dropped the first trailer for Hidden Figures on August 14th, the Internet exploded after watching the jaunty first glimpse of director Theodore Melfi’s adaptation of the book by Margot Lee Shetterly. Replete with quippy dialogue, a Pharrell Williams backbeat, and a high caliber cast, the trailer provided the first glimpse at the untold story of three female African-American NASA employees who changed the outcome of the 1960 Space Race. Beyond the meager two-minutes-and-change trailer lies a heart-warming tale of three women whose contributions to NASA brought our country closer to the stars and reminds us that when we shed our ego, anything can be accomplished.
L-R: Janelle Monae as Mary Jackson, Taraji O. Henson, and Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughn.
In 1961, embittered by the toll of Russia’s success in the Space Race, NASA fought to maintain funding as they sought to launch John Glenn in space. The only thing standing in NASA’s way – understanding mathematics that they hadn’t conceived yet to anticipate problems they didn’t know existed. Tapped to help tackle this seemingly insurmountable task was Katherine Johnson (Taraji O. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), members of the NASA West Area Computers Group, the all African-American team of NASA mathematicians.
Henson, Spencer, Monae, and the rest of the NASA West Area Computer Group.
Unlike most “true story” adaptations, Hidden Figures features three concurrent parallel stories that Melfi balances expertly throughout. The through line story focuses on the 1960s Space Race between Russia and the United States – a race that the U.S. was losing. Russia could send a mannequin into space, but NASA couldn’t develop the math to get an astronaut into orbit and back safely. By mixing archival news footage with the film, Melfi’s able to recreate for the audience the same sense of wonder, and stress the NASA team, from the computer pool all the way to the director, felt. The central story of the Space Race provides the catalyst to introduce Johnson, Vaughn, and Jackson. This story enhances the central story by becoming more personal, as the audience is given an insider’s look into the science and significance of what NASA sought to accomplish. Where the archival footage provides a glimpse of the world’s reaction, the story of the three women is the ground-level view. Without it, there’s no tension within the Space Race story as today’s audiences largely grew up knowing that a man’s been on the moon. This brings us to the third and final story that colors the other two stories: the Civil Rights Movement. Though Melfi doesn’t spend a great deal of time diving into social politics, when telling a story about three African-American women in the 1960s, it can’t be ignored. Issues of segregation and gender equality are addressed throughout the story to provide context and to also provide a glimpse of who these three women are outside of the NASA grounds. To ignore the events of the Civil Rights Movement that ran concurrent to the Space Race would ignore a rather large factor in how Johnson, Vaughn, and Jackson were viewed at the time.
NASA West Area Computer Group going to work.
Bringing this hopeful story together is a high-caliber cast of Oscar winners (past and future). Octavia Spencer (The Help) confidently embodies the poise and strength of Dorothy Vaughn, NASA’s first African-American Supervisor. Taraji P. Henson (Empire) carries the bulk of the film, both narratively and dramatically as Johnson, and does so with her usual effortless delivery; embodying both the science and courage required to successfully send a man to space. As the brash, no-nonsense Mary Jackson, Janelle Monáe (Moonlight) is the absolute stand-out of the film and deserves an Oscar nomination for her supporting role, despite her screen time being much less than her co-stars, because when she’s on screen, all eyes turn to her compelling performance. Though the leads delivered Oscar-worthy performances, Melfi curated a supporting cast that could carry their water as well. From Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves) as NASA manager Al Harrison, the leader of the Space Flight Group; Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) as team lead Paul Stafford; Kirsten Dunst (Midnight Special) as Vivian Michael, supervisor for the NASA support staff; Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) as Katherine’s love interest; Aldis Hodge (Straight Outta Compton) as Mary Jackson’s husband; all the way to Glen Powell (Everybody Wants Some!!) as astronaut John Glenn. There’s literally no shortage of amazing talent in Hidden Figures and none of it is wasted.
L-R: Olek Krupa as Kari Zielinski and Monae as Jackson.
Hidden Figures is the perfect holiday film. Audiences will leave feeling inspired and imbued with a sense of hope that many feel is gone in today’s political climate. By looking back to a time during the Civil Rights Movement to see three brilliant African-American women succeed in launching the first United States astronaut to space, audiences are reminded that anything is possible if we work together. A perfect message for the holidays and an important message to remember as our country moves forward.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: CLTure, In Theaters, Publications, Reviews
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