Best Pictures #37:
2016 (89th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee
I’m not surprised at all that there are still untold stories
of the early days of the space race and NASA. I’m also not surprised that one
of those stories is of the crucial role played by intelligent African American
women. Hidden Figures is the story of
three of those women: Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan
(Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) whose work helped send men
into space. The film that tells their inspirational and genuinely interesting
story is, unfortunately, a conventional one.
In the early 1960s NASA was based in Langley, Virginia;
both Virginia and NASA were segregated. Stress and frustration levels are high
at NASA as, at this point in the space race, the U.S. was routinely surpassed by
the Soviet Union. It is in this climate that our three heroines find career and
life changing circumstances. Katherine Johnson, a mathematical prodigy, is
assigned to the elite (and all white and all male) Space Task Group to create
and compute—Johnson’s official title is “computer”—the calculations for Alan
Shepard’s spaceflight and John Glenn’s historic orbit. Mary Jackson is working
with engineers to construct the Mercury capsule, but needs to further her
knowledge of physics to remain with the project. This means she has to seek the
permission of a judge to attend night classes held at an all-white high school. Dorothy Vaughan is
the supervisor of the “colored” computer division at NASA, all she lacks is the
official title and pay. When she discovers that an IBM computer is being
delivered that will make her staff obsolete, she sets about teaching herself
and then her staff computer programming. Each has an overwhelming job to
accomplish and they have to do so in the face of institutional racism and
sexism.
Though this is an ensemble movie, the focus is Henson’s
character, Katherine Johnson. Her scenes working with the Space Task Group are
what keeps the story moving. Kevin Costner plays Al Harrison, head of the Space
Task Group, as a stern man of few words whose main concern is results. Jim Parsons plays the lead member of the group whose main concern is having Johnson
compute his calculations, write up his reports, and expecting her to stay
silent and in the background. She, of course, does not and a big dramatic
speech ensues. Did such a moment actually happen? Perhaps. Many scenes in Hidden Figures feel simultaneously true
and contrived or embellished for the sensibilities of a 21st century
audience. These scenes, however, are still satisfying because the racism and
prejudice, both casual and direct, these women experienced is so awful and
absurd that it feels good to see it confronted. Did Al Harrison really end
segregation at NASA by ripping the steel “colored bathroom” sign down with a
crowbar? I wouldn’t be surprised if this scene was more symbolic than factual,
but it’s very satisfying to see happen.
Hidden Figures is
directed by Theodore Melfi in a very straightforward, conventional way. It is
most concerned with telling a true and inspirational story and making sure the
audience leaves the theater with a warm, happy feeling. It does this quite
well. There are good performances from the three leads (Octavia Spencer has
picked up a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination) and the film moves along at a
steady pace. Snappy one-liners and Johnson’s romance with a Colonel played by Mahershala
Ali (who has a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in Moonlight), take Hidden Figures to the brink of feeling like a made-for-TV movie,
but thankfully the cast and the Oscar-nominated screenplay by Allison Schroeder
and Theodore Melfi keep the movie on track. As a film, Hidden Figures is nothing out of the ordinary, but its story and
cast make it enjoyable.
Nominees: Peter Chernin, Donna Gigliotti, Theodore Melfi,
Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams, producers
Director: Theodore Melfi
Screenplay: Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi, based on
the book by Margot Lee Shetterly
Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe
Production Companies: Fox 2000 Pictures, Chernin
Entertainment, Levantine Films, TSG Entertainment
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: December 25th, 2016
Total Nominations: 3, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Adapted Screenplay- Allison Schroeder and
Theodore Melfi, Supporting Actress-Octavia Spencer
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