Kids have it easy today. Their phones could compute the orbital trajectories John Glenn took in 1962. I think there is even a browser-based calculator too. Human beings were “the computers” back when Hidden Figures takes place (1950s to 1960s). In fact, that was their job title…computers!
Kids also have it a bit better than us today. We weren’t taught about this film’s main characters and their contributions in school. NASA admits that their story wasn’t much talked about until the 1990s. When the book, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race was released (which this film is based on) their stories came as a shock, surprise, and an inspiration.
It took a quarter of a century to get to film, to get before us all, but I’m glad it did. Film is such a powerful medium. To paraphrase Viola Davis, it exalts ordinary people who sometimes find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. It’s an absolute must-see for everyone, but especially for anyone in the sciences or interested in them.
Not only did these women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, face segregation, but sexism in the work place. Despite it all, they rose above and made huge contributions at NASA and in the sciences. The story does a great job covering most of those character’s accomplishments. I will not go into much detail on each, since the film does such a good job of it.
- Although the film touched on Katherine Johnson being a gifted child, it didn’t mention that she graduated high school when she was fourteen years old or college at eighteen years old. Johnson also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Coworker Dorothy Vaughn graduated college at nineteen years old, and Mary Jackson achieved the highest engineering level at NASA, with the film depicted her just beginning. All this and they had families and children, too. Amazing. (STEM advocates and institutions better start teaching their history!)
- In the film’s major conflict scene, John Glenn, USA’s first astronaut flying Friendship 7, said, “Get the girl to check the numbers... If she says the numbers are good... I'm ready to go." That girl was Katherine Johnson and she calculated the output of eleven different variables to eight significant digits, matching the computer results exactly. – NASA
- This is a Hollywood movie, and what’s a movie without emotion and conflict? Hidden Figures had plenty, but it wasn’t over the top, just enough to keep it exciting. One dramatic scene had a NASA director swinging a sledgehammer to destroy segregated bathroom sign, ostensibly for none other than Katherine Jackson. In real life, she ended up using the closest bathroom she could find. A couple of years later someone brought up “her mistake,” but she ignored the comment. Luckily, no one ever brought it up again (via the book).
- Some solace to take in Johnson’s struggle can be found in an interview with WHROTV. Katherine Johnson was commenting about segregation a NASA; "I didn't feel the segregation at NASA, because everybody there was doing research. You had a mission and you worked on it, and it was important to you to do your job...and play bridge at lunch. I didn't feel any segregation. I knew it was there, but I didn't feel it."
During the third act, the space flight urgency made me realize, the so-called NASA “Launch Fever” was there right from the beginning. Pressured to catch up to and beat a fill-in-the-blank competitor leads to cutting corners, people, budgets, and so on. The only reason there weren’t more disasters early on was so many bright, smart, talented people, like Katherine Johnson, working behind the scenes. I mean, they did have to bring John Glenn back down early due to a heat-shield failure. But, he was safe.
Is launch fever why NASA no longer sends people into space? I’m not sure, but it does seem part of it. We just need more people like Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, and reaching even further (space) greatness will be possible.
Taraji P. Henson plays Katherine G. Johnson
Octavia Spencer plays Dorothy Vaughan
Janelle Monáe plays Mary Jackson
Mahershala Ali plays Lieutenant Colonel Jim Johnson
Glen Powell plays John Glenn
Everyone else plays composite characters written to represent the spirit of the time or a collection of different people. Just so you know.
I rate this film a 4.28 of 5
Pros:
- A great history lesson and launching off point for further learning.
- Accurate depiction of most of the character’s plot points, struggles, and major events.
- A toned down Hollywood treatment.
Cons:
- Still too Hollywood.
- Not enough about engineer in the making Mary Jackson!
Like the movie Arrival… Hidden Figures is a strong candidate for “reading the book.”