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Title: Hidden Figures (2016)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Taraji P. Henson | ... | Katherine G. Johnson | |
| Octavia Spencer | ... | Dorothy Vaughan | |
| Janelle Monáe | ... | Mary Jackson | |
| Kevin Costner | ... | Al Harrison | |
| Kirsten Dunst | ... | Vivian Mitchell | |
| Jim Parsons | ... | Paul Stafford | |
| Mahershala Ali | ... | Colonel Jim Johnson | |
| Aldis Hodge | ... | Levi Jackson | |
| Glen Powell | ... | John Glenn | |
| Kimberly Quinn | ... | Ruth | |
| Olek Krupa | ... | Karl Zielinski | |
| Kurt Krause | ... | Sam Turner | |
| Ken Strunk | ... | Jim Webb | |
| Lidya Jewett | ... | Young Katherine Coleman | |
| Donna Biscoe | ... | Mrs. Joylette Coleman | |
As the United States raced against Russia to put a man in space, NASA found untapped talent in a group of African-American female mathematicians that served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in U.S. history. Based on the unbelievably true life stories of three of these women, known as "human computers", we follow these women as they quickly rose the ranks of NASA alongside many of history's greatest minds specifically tasked with calculating the momentous launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, and guaranteeing his safe return. Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Gobels Johnson crossed all gender, race, and professional lines while their brilliance and desire to dream big, beyond anything ever accomplished before by the human race, firmly cemented them in U.S. history as true American heroes. Written by 20th Century Fox
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Engineers and adding-machine operators (called "computers") working at NASA in the early 1960's included a few black women. Since the Civil Rights movement was only beginning, and NASA was located in southern regions of the US, these women were subject to legal discrimination. "Hidden Figures" follows the careers of some of these women. But it does this in a heavy-handed, formulaic way.
Ever since "The Ugly Duckling" of Hans Christian Anderson, the formula has been predictable: a member of a despised minority is grudgingly admitted into a previously exclusive activity. Will the minority figure excel in the new position, or will he/she fail miserably, justifying the prejudices of the ruling class? Telling you the answer would be a spoiler, so you'll have to guess it for yourselves, but it's not too difficult.
In "Hidden Figures", all the whites are bigots (except for John Glenn and one department head), and all the blacks are hard-working, clean, patriotic moral wonders. This is history dumbed down to junior high-school level. The heroine, a mathematically gifted black widow has managed to stay chaste and raise three perfect children while handling a difficult job under trying conditions. The other characters are no more believable.
The period detail is mostly well done, with electric typewriters and glass-knobbed coffee percolators. But in the early '60s, all engineers would have carried slide rules, the way doctors wear stethoscopes. There are none to be seen here. Also, any time the heroine wants to work out a mathematical problem, she has to climb a ladder and write it out on a large blackboard. Scrap paper existed in the '60s.
If you want to watch a simple-minded morality play rather than a movie, history reduced to the level of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer", then "Hidden Figures" is for you.