Hidden Figures

You should cry, not due to sadness but pride in the human spirit during this film about three women hired by NASA to provide mathematical support for US manned space flight. The story I wanted to know was how they got to this position to meet the intellectual challenge required to launch and retrieve astronauts. Instead, their contribution to the human endeavor plays second fiddle to yet another Hollywood rehashing of the trials and tribulations during the Civil Rights struggle as Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spenser) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) are held back by color and gender. It’s the only story Hollywood has the balls to explore! Sure, avenge ill treatment, but to obsessively present mistreatment as the sole organic essence of one’s biographical entry is a grievous error. The scene where Kevin Costner, as the NASA supervisor, takes a sledgehammer to the bathroom sign got audience applause but it was the “white liberal” feel good moment in a film that should’ve been more about overcoming mathematical inequality than toilets!

[PG]