Hidden Figures

Well, well, well… What do we have here? A smart film with a title that offers dual meaning! We are here to learn about the unacknowledged personalities who discovered unseen numbers to help NASA launch men into space. Both the elements are hidden figures!

We are convincingly introduced to a young girl whose intelligence is beyond the society that houses her. She has a fascination for shapes & numbers. Cut back to some 40 years later, we see her as a grown woman who goes by the name Katherine Goble (Taraji P. Henson). The spark & excitement found in her face when she was younger, is missing now. You know there is a problem. And for sure we have a problem. Racial discriminations & stereotypes are flung one by one. Through dialogues. Through visuals, like the segregated colored facilities. So, imagine what if in such a scenario, 3 black women comes out to prove themselves the most useful beings in NASA? There you go, premise!

The most outstanding aspect of this feature is the scenes! There'll never be a moment where one gets boring, and this sentence should not be taken for granted! Screenwriters Theodore Melfi & Allison Schroeder have unlocked a midstream way of incorporating tremendous visual storytelling into maximum captivation for any regular audience! Analytic geometry connecting to Katherine's interest since a kid, President on the line while his portrait is hung up back, Joylette's bed advise, interrogation about Atlas, discovery of Euler's method, Go No-Go explanation & black women marching across hallway as a sign of moving forward are examples. Particularly to watch out are the bathroom & courtroom sequences! The way Katherine loses her steam in the former & Mary inspiringly notes out to the judge are jewels of the picture! However, certain clips could have been chopped off, like the space drawing for mum, comedy revolving vegetables & lead pencil presented to Mary (Janelle Monáe) by her husband. It's not that these episodes aren't interesting, but the effect to the final product wouldn't have changed due to its absence. It would have actually assisted in cutting the runtime shorter & making the whole show tighter.

While we are on the topic of screenplay, have we forgot to mention how incisive it is?! Problem statement is quickly established. We see it reinstated by Al Harrison (Kevin Costner). NASA and the Americans have a space launch hurdle. Next up, tensions & conflicts. The Russians have jet off the first man into orbit. IBM is a challenge; will it destroy job opportunities? Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons) doesn't like the presence of a black woman in the Space Task Group. Where will this jealousy & logger-heading lead to? Racism, will it be abolished in NASA as a starting point? Al Harrison ignites it, look out for those clips! These are the ones that need your nails bitten for!

Hidden Figures is about 3 primary characters. First, Katherine. This is mainly a story about what she becomes. As how she impressed all the school kids through her math ability, she does the same in the Pentagon conference! Just like the rocket she's about to traject, her career & credibility soars up high too! She breaks all walls into further progressions! Apart from her professional life, we are fed information about her personal facet also. She is a 24-hour working mother, who could use a little help in taking care of the kids. Then comes the persona of Jim Johnson (Mahershala Ali). You may feel there's slight more focus on their relationship than it should have, but honestly it's just a scenes placement issue. When two similar objects are placed near to each other, they appear in abundance. But try placing it far apart, you could feel the limited emergence. As for the performance, there are couple of instances which may seem Taraji's overdoing it, like the agitated running sequences, but overall she does a fair job. Mary is the dramatis personae who seem to be the least important one in this story. Yes, the last story point regarding heat shield defect proves her relevance towards engineering, but the film would have done just fine without it. Janelle as the character is likable though.

Let's talk about the core societal issue handled by the makers in this motion picture. Colored people aren't getting their fitting job scopes. Their offices are at bottom floors. Whites stand apart from blacks, be it in groups or the opposite. Separate drinks & cups are essential. Public libraries are not welcoming. Frame after frame we constantly witness this bone of contention being put forth. It came to a point where we feel it may have been overdone a little. Also, don't tell us that these figures single-handedly solved all issues in NASA? It reduces the believability factor. Teamwork is the key, and all achievements are made by joining hands. There should be a balance, if not it may seem to be too much on our face. Not every Whites would have been racist or mathematically inert back in the day. But lucky, few doses of humor are applied to ease the cruelty & prevent it from being too dark as it would have provided an unsuitable tone for the type of movie it's aiming to be.

Mary Jackson says "…in 1961" at a beginning scene as if she knows how different the future is going to be like, at that time. Also, how could she run into a test field while an exam is about to be conducted seconds-soon? Why should Dorothy steal or do things at the back? Don't you think it proves the negative perceptions? Yes, the visual effects could have been better. Hans Zimmer & collaboration have provided awesome soundtrack & song choices, especially for the ending vibe that pulls your heartstrings! But at times, certain do come off cheesy. If there's one node of the tale that could be deleted, it would be the first rocket launch. It snatches away Katherine's deserved limelight a bit, which should be the highest point in the film, at the climax. Did anyone notice that Friendship 7 is a name that has dual meanings as well?