Hidden Figures

If you’re tired of negative story lines and violent thrillers then Writer/Producer/Director Theodore Melfi’s wonderfully uplifting Hidden Figures is the Holiday film for you.

 

This is the story of three African-American women, who broke both sexual and racial barriers to become standout personnel in NASA’s attempts to put men into space during the 1960s. 

 

Taraji P, Henson plays Katherine G. Johnson, a mathematical genius, who figured out the trajectories to keep the rockets from crashing.  Octavia Spencer played Dorothy Vaughan, who ended up running NASA’s IBM computer lab.  And, Janelle Monáe played Mary Jackson, who was a key engineer on the Mercury space capsule.

The tribulations these women had to endure in the Virginia early-civil rights era and the heroism they showed in coming into their own is an example not only for young women of color, but for all of us.

Kudos, also, to Kevin Costner, who plays the NASA director who was smart enough to break the protocols to allow Katherine Johnson to shine.

Writers Melfi and Allison Schroeder have done an excellent job in telling this story.

I give Hidden Figures a 4.5 out of 5.