When I first found the trailer for “Hidden Figures”, I immediately knew I wanted to see it. For those of you who don’t know, “Hidden Figures” is based on the true story of three of the most incredible brains behind NASA’s most well known achievement – the launch of John Glenn. As we all know, this launch mission of the “Friendship 7” was the turning point of the Space race with Russia. What most people don’t know, is that behind all the white men, there were three incredible African-American women.
With an incredible story to tell, a score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and a star studded cast of Taraji P. Henson (Empire, Person of Interest), Octavia Spencer, (Red Band Society, Insurgent, Black or White), Janelle Monáe (Moonlight), Kevin Costner (The Bodyguard, The Untouchables), Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Bring It On), Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory, Home), Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, Free State of Jones, House of Cards), and Glen Powell (Scream Queens), you expect this to be amazing.
What you don’t expect is to literally be holding your breath at some scenes, watching so intently so you don’t miss anything. This movie tells a story of three women who work at NASA, living in Virginia in the early 1960’s. The film opens with a young girl, about 8 or 9 counting numbers and skipping the prime numbers. She starts looking at a window and pointing out all the types of triangles she sees. Within the first five minutes, the audience is introduced to mathematical genius, Katherine Johnson. Katherine Johnson graduated high school at 14, and college at 18. In 2015, at the age of 97, Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama. Throughout the film, there are moments where people in the theater literally started cheering. The perfect mix of comedy and seriousness, this film tells the story of three strong, intelligent African American women who refused to let their gender or the color of their skin stop them from changing the world. Without these three incredible women, Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), NASA might not have sent Glenn safely into orbit.
With most “based on true story” movies, much of the movie is made up, or “Hollywood-ized”. However, ”Hidden Figures” is largely accurate. (https://www.nasa.gov/modernfigures/faq)
As a woman, I felt incredibly empowered after watching this film. As a future teacher, I know how important science, math, and technology is in education. I firmly believe in STEM and STEAM programs, which are made possible because of women like Katherine, Mary, and Dorothy. An incredible story about the quite literal ‘hidden figures’ behind one of America’s greatest accomplishments, “Hidden Figures” is a film that should be viewed by people of all colors, genders, backgrounds, and ages. Everyone will benefit from watching this film.
However, be sure to stay until the very end - during the first half of credits, they do show photos of the real life people and real life pictures of these women at work - which is incredible.
