I often choose my movie to review by something relevant. Sometimes it’s an iconic actor’s death, a time of the year or an important period in time.
When I set about making my selection for this review, I first thought about the iconic businessman, Elon Musk and his and NASA’s recent launch of Space X. I have a granddaughter (brilliant like all of my grandchildren), that loves the subject of space. I must admit that space was a much safer topic than what else was “relevant” in our country today. As my thoughts combined the two subjects I came up with a movie that I love and had reviewed three years ago.
As I re-read my review, I thought, “Not bad, Carolyn. But, does the message still ring true today?”
Three years ago…
I’m a native Californian. I live in a “nice” area of California. I have only experienced a race riot on television. I will admit to not truly understanding being a minority (other than being a woman and I’ve never really let that slow me down). I did live in Louisiana for a very short time in 1967; still no riots, just a surreal feeling. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now. I do have friends who are African-American and I love them dearly.
Hidden Figures is a slice of history. Virginia in the early ‘60’s. NASA.
A slice of history from a different perspective, racism, front and center, yet all working hard to contribute to their country in spite of the barriers of race and gender.
John F. Kennedy was President and we were in a race for dominance in space. NASA was newly formed and didn’t even know what they didn’t know. Hidden Figures is based on the true story of three African-American women. All three had brilliant minds and ended up being critical components of the quest for space travel. It wasn’t easy in 1961.
These ladies worked in the West Computing Group. An all “colored” group of ladies known as Computers…as in, they compute. Computers (machines) were just starting to be introduced into the workplace. Educated as high as they were allowed to go, these ladies got dressed up and went to work, separate bathrooms, lunch rooms and in fact a whole different building. When their computing skills were needed, a white woman entered their building with an assignment.
Al Harrison, NASA Director, was played by the one and only, Kevin Costner. I don’t know him, only saw him once, but he seems like someone I’d invite to a backyard BBQ. I loved him in this movie. He has scenes that make you want to jump up from your seat and cheer! When on assignment the ladies of the West Computing Group had to return to their own building a half mile away to use the Colored Ladies facility. My favorite Harrison quote is, “Here at NASA we all pee the same color”.
The casting was excellent. Along with Costner we have Oscar winning, Octavia Spencer playing Dorothy Vaughn, Taraji P. Henson, excellent as Katherine G. Johnson and Janelle Mona’e as Mary Jackson.
Kirsten Dunst does well as Vivian Mitchell, the woman in charge of the “Computers”…from another building. Toward the end of the movie she tells Dorothy, “Despite what you may believe, I have nothing against y’all.” Dorothy simply answers, “I know that, I know you think that.”
Somewhere in that statement is the truth about racism.
I love true stories, even if they are only ‘based’ on the truth. This film certainly did not disappoint. The story line was both insightful and redeeming and with this talented cast it was a home run.
The music was inspiring and upbeat. There were actually lyrics to the songs and those words fit perfectly with the story. It certainly added one more dimension to the film and scored (pun intended) them a Golden Globe nomination!
I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone. Three Oscar nominations as well as other accolades were well deserved. Hidden Figures is fun and you actually get a history lesson. This trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to Dream Big!
As usual, I would love to hear your thoughts at
I don’t believe I got any comments to that particular review, yet three short years later there are protests, mostly peaceful, some definitely not so peaceful. People reacting or over-reacting, depending on your vantage point, to the abhorrent death of an African American man at the hands of a white policeman.
I recently read a written journal of a Guardsman that was assigned to Seattle at the beginning of the protest. Peaceful? Depending on whose reporting. No lethal weapons. Yet, reportedly, there were deaths. This was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.
Whether we’re a supervisor in a workplace, a pastor of a church, a teacher in a school or a neighbor down the street, we all have our part to play. Whatever the color of our skin, it’s going to take all of us to make the change. We each need to draw the line in the sand and say no more, not just with a sign in the street but with a hand out at church or school or work. If the multi-racial NASA team could find a way to work together to put a man in space nearly 60 years ago, then we should be able to work together to put an end to racism today.
I’ve no doubt I will get responses to this, just know, my words are words of hope. I believe God loves us all and we are called to love each other. Comments to carolyn@carolynhastings.com
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