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Hello there! It's me, DB and I'm back to bring you another review! This time, I give you my review of Hidden Figures, the movie that stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae as three colored women who changed NASA for the better! This review does contain spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading and go see the film. Then, you can read on to see what I have to say about the film.
This film got a nod for Best Picture at this year's Oscars. I can definitely see why! The film is about 3 women who work for NASA as mathematicians working to get an American into space before the Russians in 1961. This film revolves around the lives of those women.
First off, I liked the story a lot, especially since it was based off a book that in turn was based off actual people and events. The story was long, as was the movie, but it was good. You could understand what was happening during each scene thanks to the story. I thought it was well written!
Secondly, I thought Taraji P. Henson did an AWESOME job portraying Kathrine Johnson, a woman who helped calculate the launch and landing trajectories for the mission that was flown by late astronaut John Glenn. She was powerful! Her portrayal of Mrs. Johnson was excellent! She was loud when she needed to be. Her emotions were on cue and perfect! Also, I thought she worked well with her fellow coworkers in the film, especially Spencer and Monae and even Kevin Costner. She also believes in the Lord!
Speaking of Spencer, I thought she was good in this film. She has a calm voice, so she didn't raise it too much in this movie. Her emotions were on time too, which means she could portray those emotions well during a certain scene. I thought she did well handling the IBM machine too!
Monae was good as the 3rd Hidden Figure. She spoke with a southern accent, which I thought fit her role well, especially since her character is in Virginia.
Kevin Costner and Kirsten Dunst also made appearances in the film. I felt that Costner did ok in this. Is this my favorite Costner film? No, Field of Dreams is. But, Costner did pretty good in this one. He was tough, but fair. Dunst didn't have much screen time as the others did, but she did good. Still, I liked her better as MJ from the Spidey movies.
Jim Parsons was in this too, but he didn't get much screen time. He definitely sounded and acted like Sheldon, his character from the Big Bang Theory, in this film.
I also liked the nostalgia in this film. This film was set in 1961, so the set designers had to make sets relevant to that time period. There were a lot of classic style cars in this film, which was needed.
The film also revolves around segregation, which was a HUGE thing back in the 60s. This film was set 2 years before Dr. Martin Luthor King Jr's epic "I Have A Dream" speech. Back then, they had different bathrooms, different restaurant entrances, even different schools for both white and African American people. They portrayed that here in this movie because these 3 women lived during that time. These 3 women changed the course of NASA in that period!
My favorite scene from the film was when Costner's character broke down a Colored bathroom entrance sign, thus allowing the women of both races to enter that bathroom at the same time whenever they needed to or want to.
Overall, I'm glad the Academy chose this film as a nomination for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress. 4 STARS! The story was long, but I felt that this story needed to be told. The acting was good, the sets were good. Everything was good about this film!
Before I close this post, I wanted to talk about segregation. Like I said, this was a big thing in the 60s. This was a tough time in America. This was the time where colored people and white people treated each other differently, rather then equals. You could easily see that in this movie, especially during the scene where Spencer's character and her kids sat in the bus. She and her kids sat at the back of the bus since this movie took place before Rosa Parks, who sat at the front of the bus and gain big attention doing so. During this time, important people, like Mrs. Parks, took a stand! In his Dream speech in 1963, Dr. King reminded the people that when our country was discovered and created, it was created with equality in mind. He reminded us that we are supposed to treat each other equally, no matter what the color of our skin was. During his speech, he said, and I quote, "I have a dream that my four little children would one day live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the conflict of their character. I have a dream today!"
I proudly salute Mrs. Parks, Dr. King and the 3 genius women that this movie was focused on. Where would the USA be without them and the hard work that they did?
