Les Figures de l'ombre

This is one of those "based on true events" films that the moment you return from the theater you're going to hop on the internet and explore the story. That's a good sigh. Unfortunately, here the need to do some fact checking might not stem from all the right reasons.

Hidden Figures is an upbeat, inspiring tale about the role three African-American women played in the NASA program during the early 60's. First Katherine Johnson (Henson), our lead, a gifted mathematician and human computer trying to carve out a roll in the Space Test Group. Second, Dorothy Vaughan (Spencer), leader of the "colored computers." She wants both the supervisor title she deserves and to survive the transition to IBM's mechanical computers. Finally Mary Jackson (Monae), who is trying to overcome discriminatory policies to become NASA's first female engineer. These women must meet challenges in the workplace then return home to more struggles African-Americans were fighting nationwide.

Having the performances to anchor your character drama goes along way. Henson is solid, but Spencer is Oscar worthy and Monae's performance is part of a spectacular 2016. I will be on the lookout for more from this talent. Kudos to the supporting roles played by Ali and Costner. Beyond the highlight performances, the scenario is well worth a shot. We have seen heroes fighting against segregation. We have seen space race movies. The mix presents America at its finest and most appalling. A cute combo. The woman at the core are also very deserving of a chance in the sun. The problems creep in with presentation. The director/writer Melfi and co-writer Schroeder were clearly unsatisfied with the quiet, real nobility with which these woman conducted themselves. I cannot say if what the creators did is ethical, but the addition of obviously manufactured drama was a damning decision. This leads to some awkward trust issues. After watching some Hollywood like Johnson erupting at her boss's boss, it becomes more difficult to believe in the little things. Did Johnson really need to run a half a mile just to use the restroom? Or even the climax. On the day of the launch, did John Glenn trust Johnson's calculations over the IBM? It turns out only one of these inclusions are factual. Not the one you think, and perhaps the true story demonstrates more bravery.

I'm not going to share any more of my digging here. Others asked the same questions and the answers are readily available. The point is after I watched Hidden Figures I wanted to learn if I had been lied too. Sad, because doubts are not what stories this wonderful deserve. Beyond this major stumble, Hidden Figures is well worth anyone's time. Educational, but entertaining. Positive without preachy. Family friendly in a genuine way. At the theater, I sat next to a nineish year old who kept asking her mother questions. The daughter was interested and wanted to follow every detail. The mother gave brisk answers not wanting to miss a moment. That's a true event, I swear, and the best praise for Hidden Figures I can muster.

Hidden Figures is a really good movie. I never read Margot Lee Shetterly's book, but I might now. This is a wonderful movie about civil rights, space travel, and new technology. It pulls in many different characters and personalities. Theodore Melt did a wonderful job directing. The story focus on the technical aspects. However the movie is never slow, it keeps moving and keeps you interested. The casting was good. Octavia Spencer, Taraji Henson, Janelle Mona, and Kevin Costner did an incredible job. There was also wonderful performances by Jim Parsons and Kirsten Dunst. Hidden Figures is a fun and exciting movie about advancement in ideas and technology. Its is also a very uplifting movie about bravery and taking chances. It is really good. I enjoyed it.

My grandson advised me to watch this movie. I'm not much of a movie watcher but was greatly impressed with the movie. I was employed by a major company in the late 60's This movie occurred a little before that. I was actually a teen when John Glen took his trip into space. I and many other blacks had no knowledge of this crew of women and how they contributed to the NASA project. In the late 60's, there were race riots and lots of racial conflicts. I remember in my senior year, Westinghouse Electric was located in a black community but had no black employees. They came to the black high schools and wanted the top 3 stenographers from each school to apply to their company. This was based on efforts from the community to hire black employees. We were tested. We all had to have 3.8-4.0 QPA's and be able to type 80-100 words per minute and transcribe at 100 wpm. I was 1 of the lucky ones. I had an academic diploma with business classes as my minor. Ten women were hired. I was so excited. But the minute I walked out on the floor, all eyes were on me. There were no black/white bathrooms, but we were pushed to the back of the line and not allowed to use the mirrors until all the white girls had left the restrooms. It wasn't a rule, but we were shoved to the back. We were laughed at and talked about in front of our faces. But under no circumstances was I going to allow somebody else to take this job away from me. We took it! We were treated like we were from a 3rd world country. The white girls didn't even know how to change the typewriter ribbons. Their typing speeds only had to be 45-50 to get in. Shucks, I had to be the best! I was awed to have typed on the IBM Selectric typewriter. The same one in the movie! But we had to care for their machines as well as our own. In high school we only had manuals. Eventually I went to Univ of Pgh. to study accounting at night. I took all of the courses required to get out of the steno pool, but was consistently turned down 10 years trying to become an Accounting Clerk. While whites with less education and less seniority were chosen over and over again over me. I had to type for the controller, because of my super fast, error free statistical typing skills while his secretary filed her nails and poured coffee. Of course, I was never paid what she made. To make a long story short, we black women stayed. Some of us for 40 years. It took years before we were looked at like humans--before people would talk to us, eat at the same lunch table, sometimes they would make us wait last to get on the elevators to go home. But over the course of 10- 40 years, we earned that respect. We did become manager secretaries. We did earn engineering degrees at night and worked our way up. We did end up with white women becoming our best friends. We became their bridesmaids instead of their maids. We went to their parties, instead of cleaning up after the parties. This movie may make some people uncomfortable, and perhaps you don't believe it was like that for smart black women, actually any black person. But believe me, I am a living witness at age 67 to recall the bigotry and hatred I once experienced as a young woman 18 years old, only to retire from the company with much respect. Many of my friends that started when I started, are still in touch. We always laugh and say "We were the first." Because we knocked down those walls of prejudice and differences and created a path for people of all colors to follow. I loved the movie. I only wished that those women had been recognized a little sooner for their contributions to the NASA PROJECT. The portrayal of bigotry and indifference is real. It really did happen in the 60's. As a child I remember the black/white bathrooms--not being allowed in Howard Johnson's on the turnpike and going shopping in the department store via the back warehouse door. Katherine was older than me. Did she run almost a mile to the bathroom? Maybe, maybe not. But don't judge this movie based on that. Some real prejudices were worse than that. History cannot be changed, only learned about. I am proud to be a part of that growing history along with Katherine.

I'm an engineer. I designed computers, I grew up in the south during the 1950s and 1960s. I was heavily involved in the space race at an early age and watched every launch and recovery on black-and-white TV. I never saw separate restrooms and drinking fountains for "colored" but they were there. I never rode on segregated public buses, but they were there and I knew it. This movie, "Hidden Figures," brings all of these worlds back to me. No, it's not a painstakingly accurate picture. NASA didn't have flat-panel screens back then. Communications between the ground and the Mercury capsules were not static-free. But a lot of this movie feels real. Very real.

The protagonists in this movie are three women of color working in one of the most unwelcoming environments they might hope to find: NASA Langley, Virginia, in 1961. As women, they were employed as human "computers" because they were less expensive and they got their numbers right. As "colored" folk, they got their own separate (and sparse) restrooms and their own, separate dining facilities. This was not America's shining hour, even in some place as lofty as NASA.

At the same time, civil unrest was rising in the towns. This is the time of Martin Luther King's rise to prominence. It's a time just before the rise of militant civil rights groups. It's a time when resistance to segregation and discrimination was still civil, but as the movie shows, that resistance was beginning to firm up and become widespread.

There are several reasons to see this movie: from a civil rights perspective; from a feminism perspective; from the perspective of the early space race when we lagged the Soviet Union, badly. If you lived during this time, see the movie to remember. If you were born later, see this movie to see what things were like.

The Americans are desperate to beat The Russians to get the first man into space, NASA plans to send John Glenn up, this film charts the role three African American women played in launching the rocket.

I watched it when it first landed, and I enjoyed it just as much on a second viewing. It's uplifting, moving, and a hugely important story.

I have always been fascinated by space travel, and by the key role that NASA played, but even the great organisation itself had its flaws.

It highlights the significant level of racism that people ensured at the time, the segregation, the white and black amenities and facilities, it's sickening to watch now, but this is how people lived.

The acting is terrific, every single performance is on point, every character matters, and has an important part to play. Octavia Spencer however, I think she steals the show, a performance that is genuinely captivating.

It's a fascinating story, and a beautifully well made film, one that inspires and uplifts.

8/10.