Hidden Figures
Ever since I saw the trailer for the film Hidden Figures a long while back (I think it might have been during the Summer Olympics), it's been high on my list of movies to to see it. It wasn't just the story that caught my interest, but it looked really well done.
I saw it on Sunday. And it was worth the wait, and I was right on both accounts. It's quite wonderful.
The film tells the true story of three black women in early 1960s who are blocked at NASA, but persevered and all ended up individually affecting the space program in significant ways. It's smart, thoughtful, well-crafted, wonderful acted. Nothing flashy, it just tells its story seriously well.
The film stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae, who are all terrific. There's also a wonderful, low-key performance by Kevin Costner as the head of a division of the space program. And very effective jobs by Jim Parsons and Kirsten Dunst.
Also, it's worth noting that John Glenn comes off great in the story. For all I know, it may have been embellished for dramatic purposes, but given how much we do know in retrospect about Glenn and the attention to detail the film has, I have to suspect that things in the film hew pretty close to the truth, as well. Since the movie has been promoted for so long, I hope but also strongly assume that he got to see the finished film before recently passing away.
To give well-deserved credit, it's co written by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi, the latter who directed based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly.
Here's the trailer. It's very good -- the movie is much better.
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