Hidden Figures
(2016)Genius has no race, strength has no courage, courage has no limits.
Based on a true story, Hidden Figures recounts how three black American women served as the brains behind several key 1960s NASA missions. Stars Taraji P. Henson (TV's Empire), Janelle Monáe (Moonlight), and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer (The Help).... More
Physicist, space scientist, and mathematician Katherine G. Johnson (Henson), along with Dorothy Vaughan (Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Monáe), were instrumental in executing one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) into orbit. It was an achievement that restored the United States' confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanised the world. The gifted trio crossed gender and race lines and inspired generations to dream big. Kirsten Dunst and Kevin Costner co-star.Hide
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Directed by Theodore Melfi ('St. Vincent')
Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, Glen Powell
Written by Theodore Melfi, Allison Schroeder (based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly)
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Hidden Figures
BY adeej superstar
This film was amazing! It was such an important story to be told, especially in a time of increased insular nationalism and racism in the world. What these three women did was truly amazing. The cast of this film was great too. One of my best films ever!
BY Alissa-Warren superstar
Can't speak more highly of this film, outstanding in every respect and who knew I could love a film that is essentially about math , I know I was blown away. Amazing and deserves every accolade. Watch it now!!
BY pkmana nobody
A number one for the grown girls who love to watch True Stories, although my husband enjoyed it too .. Great story line and actors, I really enjoyed
BY TJH grader
This was just a great story that I can't believe has taken 51 years to get to the screen. The characters were great, acted well and told without any American sentimentalisation.
BY cinemusefilm superstar
Based on real events, the film is... More set against the Cold War and the frantic race between America and Russia to put the first man on the Moon. More than space science, it was about competing political systems and bragging rights for aeronautical supremacy. The story centres on three gifted coloured women who joined the space program: mathematician Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) audits the calculations of white male scientists and devises new mathematical solutions for trajectory calculations; Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) teaches herself complex Fortran code to become the expert on the IBM computer and NASA’s first coloured supervisor; and Mary Johnson (Janelle Monae) wins the right to enrol in a segregated engineering course to become NASA’s first coloured female engineer. The trio are part of a scientific group that is under immense political pressure to achieve the successful manned spaceflight which became astronaut John Glenn’s space legacy.
The historical facts frame the story but it is the treatment of the facts that makes the film interesting. It could have been a tense drama or dry bio-pic but instead it is full of comedic moments and under-stated racial vignettes. For example, on her first day Katherine is mistaken for a janitor and all the coloured women must walk half a mile to use the segregated bathroom. Despite the best available “white brains” only a coloured woman can work out the new IBM computer and astronaut John Glenn will not ‘lift off’ unless Katherine first checks the IBM trajectory calculations. The ironies are not designed to get laughs, but to show how even the nation’s finest scientific minds were locked into systemic racial discrimination in a NASA culture that was blind to its own prejudices.
This is a great film on many levels. As a bio-pic, it carries the weight of history in telling a story that must be told. The acting is outstanding, with a perfect balance between depicting the ugly side of racial oppression and the women’s determination to contribute to aeronautical science. Character development is on the light side as the focus is not on personality but on achievement. The trio of stars all portray dignity under duress and their repressed anger saves the film from turning into a lecture. It achieves what any bio-pic drama can hope for: it offers feel-good entertainment while informing about a remarkable episode in history.Hide
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The Press Reviews
"Hidden Figures" is empowerment cinema at its most populist, and one only wishes that the film had existed at the time it depicts... Full Review
Although it looks like a movie machine-tooled to ride the wave of #OscarsSoWhite backlash, its actual ambitions seem far more modest: to entertain a lot, to educate a bit and to cheerlead pretty much constantly. Full Review
The film aims for the stars but might have gone stratospheric if it cooled its jets ever so slightly. Full Review
A crucial episode of the nineteen-sixties, centered on both the space race and the civil-rights struggle, comes to light in this energetic and impassioned drama. Full Review
Like the calculating women whose lives it celebrates, "Hidden Figures" knows what it's doing. Full Review
There is something to be said for a well-told tale with a clear moral and a satisfying emotional payoff. Full Review
...a beautifully crafted film... Full Review
A smart, entertaining, illuminating and timely film. Full Review
The story is a great one and all the better for being mostly true... Full Review
BY Liam Maguren Flicks Writer
Looking for an entertaining film starring women of colour dominating an intellectual field? Then skip this review and watch Hidden Figures right bloody now. This is the real-life tale of three African-American women who didn’t get enough credit for their contributions to NASA and the space race, making it an immensely valuable story to tell.... More
The cortex of the film sits with Katherine (Taraji P Henson), a mathematical prodigy who works her way into NASA’s largest calculating mind hive made up of a largely male, completely white staff. Jim Parsons plays a co-worker who is more than miffed that she could possibly be at his level (she’s actually way better), constantly stonewalling her progress and hiding behind the common excuse that it’s “just the way things are.”
Her boss, played by Kevin Costner, is more tolerant on the surface, but his inability to recognise her struggle doesn’t make him a holy white saviour. When he gets the wake-up call, he takes appropriate action, but only after Katherine calls bullshit on everyone in a hugely satisfying scene that uses Henson’s emotive skills to full capacity.
It gets deeper with Dorothy’s (Octavia Spencer) storyline, a should-be-supervisor forced to butt heads with her boss Vivian (Kirsten Dunst). Vivian is vicious, and racist, but not necessarily a vicious racist, allowing the film to expose degrees of racial intolerance that reside in everyday people.
It’s a shame the commanding Janelle Monáe as Mary feels heavily side-lined in comparison, resurfacing for a decent but laboured court case. Director Theodore Melfi doesn’t do anything to make the math mumbo jumbo seem interesting either – visually or otherwise – which has always been a problem for movies about amazing science nerds. His workmanlike approach – ironically – holds back this otherwise incredible workwomen tale.Hide
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