Film Review: Hidden Figures Nadine Matthews

Based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly and starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, and Kevin Costner, the film Hidden Figures repudiates the belief (often unfortunately held in the Black community as well) that Black women don’t bring much value to the proverbial table. It is the true story of three Black women, talented at science and mathematics, who distinguished themselves while working at NASA during the nascence of the Cold War era. One of them, Katherine Johnson, played by Henson, was directly involved in facilitating John Glenn’s famous orbit around the Earth by doing the calculations of its trajectory. Spencer plays Dorothy Vaughn, a mathematician who eventually became a computer programmer. After becoming head of personnel at Langley Research Center in 1949, Vaughn took charge of making sure that the women who worked for her were proactive in their efforts to learn computer programming. She realized very early on that computers would take over a lot of the work that she and her all African-American female staff of mathematicians were doing. Mary Jackson, played by Janelle Monae, also started off as a mathematician at NASA but ended up through Herculean effort, becoming an aerospace engineer..

The movie shines a light on the poor quality of the US educational system in that these women, who played such vital roles in shaping the modern United States, are virtually unknown. This problem is reflected in the movies and television that reinforce dangerous stereotypes about women in general and about Black women in particular. White women, with films like the excellent Imitation Game which featured Keira Knightley as cryptanalyst Joan Clarke and new TV programs where they are featured as scientists have perhaps moved a step in the right direction. Black women however, are still given short shrift. Even with new programming that affirmatively attempts to position women in general as being capable scientists, TV and movie writers are hard-pressed to feature Black female characters that have a knowledge of, let alone expertise in, the sciences. The implication is that they are basically incapable of learning the sciences. This is especially egregious in light of the fact that we live in an the era of Mae Jemison, Aprille Ericsson-Jackson, Ursula Burns, Kimberly Bryant and others who are prominent in the STEM fields.

Hidden Figures attempts to right that wrong and is all the more powerful because it is based on real people and events. A film that succeeds in many ways, it is guided by a strong script, and impressive performances by Henson, Spencer, and Monae that deftly portray their firm friendship as women and the ways in which the three of them functioned as an indispensable support system for each other. They also adroitly captured the indomitable spirit that is the mark of the most successful of women. The actresses also telegraph to the audience the steadfast resolution of these women to not be broken by their circumstances and their refusal to allow others’ perceptions define who they were. Katherine’s military man suitor played by Mahershala Ali, in yet another magnificent turn, symbolized the importance of support from the men in their lives. The actors in general delivered nuanced performances that strongly indicated to the viewer that there was so much more than met the eye. Kevin Costner, now notably in his third outing as part of a film with a Black female as protagonist, delivered a solid performance as Al Harrison, who was managing the space program at NASA; a no-nonsense, what you see is what you get type.

The filmmakers also made fantastic choices in terms of costuming which provided a great deal of the fun in the movie. Vibrant colors, beautifully cut clothing and smart hairstyles that evoked feelings of nostalgia in the viewer were front and center. The clothing also communicated that these women, although they lived in the era of de jure racial segregation, were middle class in background, experience, and sensibilities. Though they shared many socio-political concerns with other Blacks of the era, there was a class distinction that signaled a delicate line of demarcation. This was an astute decision by the filmmakers that provided a truer, more meaningful portrait of Black life. Perhaps the one slip-up was a line about one of the characters being unable to afford pearls which should be interpreted as more of a metaphor for the disparity in pay based on race and gender as opposed to a literal inability to afford a set of pearls. A minor but important point about the costumes for the female characters were that they were also decidedly feminine. The filmmakers avoided the trap of implying that women who excel in science somehow are more “masculine” than those not as scientifically inclined.

For all its warmth, technical brilliance and for the numerous right choices that it made, Hidden Figures ultimately could have used a bit more subtlety and texture that would have elevated it to the status of a great film as opposed to a very good one. With all the tools that filmmakers have at their disposal to tell a story, to create tension, to pull the audience into the narrative, relatively few were utilized. Choice of shots, dialogue, lighting, score, etc. could have been put to much better use. On its surface, Hidden Figures is about the historic and woefully overlooked contributions of a group of women-highlighting three singular women in particular. Just as important is the fact that those contributions were circumscribed and informed by the politics of race and gender among the highly educated middle and upper class in 1960’s America. In the presence of those variables, racial tensions and racist realities persisted and strengthened in shadows even as changes in the law altered their outward, overt manifestations. The film should perhaps have shown those dynamics at their most subtle yet most tenacious.

Hidden Figures could have been a generic biopic based on a non-fiction book. The cast and filmmakers avoided that pitfall that and made it an amazing, moving ilm. More attention to the power of filmmaking itself would have elevated it to the status of an outstanding film. That being said however, the story itself and the overall strong performances guarantee that time spent viewing is more than worth it. No viewer will come away not feeling awed and uplifted.