Pin Cushion

Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, I wonder what this film could possibly be about?  I’m still not sure why this films trailer appealed to me but it did regardless and I’m happy to have given it the time.

In short, if you like historical dramas and/or the events of the space race are of interest to you then I’d recommend this one for a watch, if not at the cinema then at least as a rent, the smaller focus of this film on the people behind the scenes wont loose anything on a smaller screen despite its big issues.

Having to question the authenticity of the events on screen is always a given for any film that opens with the line ‘based on a true story’ a phrase which can herald something flying fast and loose with the past, I can’t say for certain what’s true and what’s creative license in Hidden Figures but it is a very worthy film. set in the years running up to Americas first manned flight into space, a time when they blew up rockets and an awful lot of chimps, back when computer was a job title crunching math on paper, Hidden Figures follows three of ladies working in the coloured computer section of the Nasas Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in the southern US states. The film follows their struggles to attain recognition and progression in a climate that when not actively hostile to their presence holds a constant passive bias against them, the points of segregation clearly made throughout with the separated bathroom, drink fountains and court seating, the point both subtly and heavily made that seriously bright people were side-lined and dismissed on the bias of the time, a move depriving the high aiming but hard pushed NASA of a valuable asset.

I don’t think there’s anything I disliked about the movie, the performances are good and engaging across the board, the setting is well realised in that 1960’s Americana way and the recreations of the Nasa facilities and equipment was most appealing to a space and science fiction centric sort as myself. The cutting and splicing in of period footage from the time transitioning to new footage with the use of film grain filters, recreations and CGI cutting them together nicely in a believable package.

I don’t really have much more to say on a live action movie, my own specialties lying firmly in the animated film camp but it’s a solidly put together drama that deserves some attention as I’ve noticed most people I mentioned this film to even knowing about, making Hidden figures an ironically hidden film

So yes, give it the time and shoot for those stars.