Hidden Figures is the Most Important Film You'll See This Year

Get ready to meet the three most lovable heroines of any dramatic film offering this year. Hidden Figures is an award season hopeful that tells the story of Katherine Johnson, an African American woman and unsung hero during one of the most turbulent times in American history. The film also highlights two other main protagonists: Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson who were also among the first African American women to work at NASA as “human computers” to help launch astronaut, John Glenn, into orbit.



The first few minutes of the movie showing Katherine's family learning that she is a math prodigy, fades from muted colors to brightening ones, just like the three bold women that we get the pleasure of learning about as their stories unfold in this Margot Lee Shetterly adaptation of an important true story about race, the triumph of the human spirit, and the sacrifices made for equality.

As these women climb the ranks at NASA in their unique ways despite overwhelming obstacles ranging from blatant racism, to their own family doubting their ability to make an impact, this timely tale showcases something that our country is desperately lacking right now: a common vision to rally around. The space race was a phenomenon that drew people in, no matter their color or class.

We get a glimpse of the unifying effect of this event in history when we first meet the three women. A white police officer approaches Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary when their car breaks down on the side of the road. What the audience (and the three women) fear will be a confrontation actually becomes a light moment in the film when the police officer learns that they work for NASA, and specifically toward the goal of getting “our boys to space,” and provides them with a police escort so that they won’t be late to work.

Working alongside Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons) and under the supervision of Al Harrison, (Kevin Costner) Katherine, played by the stunning Taraji P. Henson, overshadows her white, male peers as she discovers the formula that will help get John Glenn into space and back to earth safely. We get to witness her fight for equality and at times basic human dignity despite enormous injustice such as having to run all the way across NASA’s campus to use the “colored” restroom, and showing up to work one morning only to find her co-workers have supplied a separate coffee carafe labeled “colored” for her to use. Katherine is a bright spot in an otherwise sad state of affairs, and director, Theodore Melfi, makes sure to remind us of this even in subtle creative decisions like Katherine's bright colored outfits that stick out in a sea of black ties and white shirts. 

Meanwhile, her good friend Dorothy (Octavia Spencer who was nominated for an Oscar for her role) is fighting unsuccessfully to become a supervisor in the “colored human computers” department even though she is doing the work of a supervisor. When the advent of the computer as we know it comes onto the scene, Dorothy works feverishly to learn the new machine so as not to become obsolete. When NASA’s own computer technicians aren’t able to perform the simple task of setting up the computer, she teaches herself to install and run the machine, earning herself a promotion and saving her team in the process.

The delightfully sassy character of Mary played by singer and burgeoning actress Janelle Monáe, wages her own war in the film by working to become the first black woman to attend classes in an all-white engineering program, even petitioning the courts for a chance to rise the ranks at NASA as an engineer. These women teach us that the only thing more amazing than the human mind is the human spirit. You can learn more about Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary in this article.

All three of these stories are woven together beautifully with the Civil Rights movement, the fear of Communism, and significant technological advances as a backdrop. This film tells an important (and did I mention TRUE) story that shows that victories won collectively as a nation that even take us into space, are just as important as the small victories won in the lives of individuals that promote and advance equality, justice, and common dignity for all. This movie is incredibly timely and important- touching on topics like race, female friendship, and equality for women, all in a nice family friendly package (and bonus it was co-written by a bad ass female screenwriter and first time Oscar nominee, Allison Schroeder). Go see this. Take your friends, your kids, your cousin, it's really for anyone. You won't be disappointed.