Hidden Figures
Composite Score: 85.03
Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, Glen Powell, Kimberly Quinn, and Olek Krupa
Director: Theodore Melfi
Writers: Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
Genres: Biography, Drama, History
MPAA Rating: PG for thematic elements and some language
Box Office: $235.96 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Hidden Figures is the film adaptation of the nonfiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly about three African American women who worked as mathematicians at NASA and their achievements in overcoming barriers to both their race and sex as they became integral to the work of the American space program. The film stars Taraji P. Henson as its central figure, mathematician Katherine G. Johnson who helps calculate flight trajectories integral to John Glenn’s orbit of the Earth, along with Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan, NASA’s first African American female supervisor whose study of computers and programming helped her earn a spot within NASA’s staff, and Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson, one of the first black females to receive an engineering degree in the state of Virginia. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress (Spencer) and was considered by many to be one of the best films of 2016. Its celebration of these lesser-known figures within the space program and its exploration of issues surrounding racism and sexism have made it one of the more popular films of the last decade.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Obvious timeline inaccuracies, character compositing, and generalizations aside, Hidden Figures has one major flaw that it shares with a few other Oscar-nominated films from the back half of the 2010s (and beyond in either direction). It utilizes a fairly glaring white savior trope in the character of Kevin Costner’s Al Harrison – a fabrication to simplify the leadership structure of NASA for wider audiences. While the three leading ladies have plenty of agency of their own throughout the film, their victories – especially those of Katherine – come not through personal action but through the actions of others, specifically other white characters. The removal of the segregated bathrooms comes through Al Harrison, as does Katherine’s invitation into Pentagon briefings and mission control for Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission. In reality, Johnson’s persistence allowed her to ignore segregated restrooms and got her into those high clearance rooms. Similarly, though less obviously, the tweaks to Mary’s story also comes with the addition of a white savior. Historically, Mary Jackson simply had to petition the town for approval to take her engineering classes, but the film adds a judge that she has to go to and boost his ego before she receives approval to attend said classes, again detracting from her own accomplishments and agency. And I think that’s where this film ends up with its greatest flaw. There are no characters that hold onto their prejudices when faced with alternatives. Everyone eventually comes around to see things the right way, leaving the audience with the inaccurate sense that, because these women accomplished the things that they did, no one faces racism, sexism, and other prejudices anymore. It’s an ending that does not reflect the reality that we know to be true.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
What saves this film from fully joining the ranks of overly sanitized films about racism that you can probably skip in a post-2016-to-2020 world are the three leading performances. Janelle Monáe might be better known for her music career in the modern day, but her performance as Mary Jackson is one of the most fun that I’ve seen in a film like this. She brings her charisma fully to bear as the young firecracker driven to achieve something never done before, and it’s thrilling to watch. Had it not been quite so stacked a year (with Viola Davis in Fences, Naomie Harris in Moonlight, Nicole Kidman in Lion, and Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea nominated alongside Octavia Spencer for Supporting Actress), I think Monáe’s performance would have been fully deserving of a nom. Spencer did pull an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Dorothy Vaughan, and it’s easy to see why. Where it is a fairly similar performance to her Oscar-winning portrayal of Minnie in The Help, Spencer takes a slightly more mature tone with this one that separates it from her win, playing the mother to her sons as much as she is also the rock for the trio of women, holding it down and working her way quietly up even as the other two get much flashier promotions. It’s a strong performance that shows a different range from the actress, which is always nice to see. For me, the true robbery of this year’s Oscars came in the lack of nomination for Taraji P. Henson for lead actress for her performance here. The Academy really nominated Ruth Negga in Loving AND Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins(?!?) over Henson’s stellar leading performance. I suppose it’s probably the screentime that she had to share with the other two women that kept her out of the group of nominees because her performance is a revelation. Her ability to portray a strong woman across from Mahershala Ali’s Col. Jim Johnson, an endearingly loving mother to her three on-screen children, and a brilliant mathematician who advocates for her rights as a black woman all while feeling like the same character deserves more recognition than it gets. (I mean, the bathroom/coffee pot tirade alone probably should have earned her a nomination if Adam Driver could get one for punching a wall – and he should have anyway for Marriage Story but that’s beside the point.) It’s easily her best performance and one that probably deserves more credit than she has yet received.
Hidden Figures elevates itself above its peers of overly sweet portrayals of the victories of the Civil Rights era with three powerful and memorable performances from Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe, whose portrayal of these noteworthy women from history earns this film a place of greatness. Its white savior issues and an inability to portray continuing prejudice beyond the victories of its characters holds it back from the highest of heights, but it’s still better than a lot of other films set in this era. It is currently available to stream on Disney+ for anyone looking to watch it sometime soon.
