By MEHER MASALAWALA
April 4, 2017
“The much talked about film, Hidden Figures was about the African American women who worked for NASA and helped us get a man into space during the Space War with Russia.”
Its difficult to accept that there was a time in American history when segregation was ingrained into everyday life and a physical barrier existed between people of different races. That areas and public property like water fountains were labeled white and colored. Of course, we know this is true and we’ve seen the pictures but we forget this reality was not an alternate one.
The much talked about film, Hidden Figures was about the African American women who worked for NASA and helped us get a man into space during the Space War with Russia.
The film focuses particularly on Katherine Johnson, a numbers expert who worked on Project Mercury and other missions, Dorothy Vaughan who was the first Female African American Supervisor and Mary Jackson who was the first Aerospace Engineer.
The film starts with all three working in West Area Computers at Langley Research Center for NACA (pre-NASA), which was an all female African American division of human computers, aka people who performed calculations by hand before such machines were even invented.
The film is based on the nonfiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly and was directed by Theodore Melfi, it has been critically acclaimed and was nominated for the globes and academy awards and won many others like the SAG award for having an outstanding cast.
Taraji P. Henson as Johnson has given a resilient performance as was expected from the star of the very popular show Empire. Octavia Spencer has done a spectacular job as the strong willed Vaughan and Janelle Monáe is solid as the determined Jackson. It also stars Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, Kirsten Dunst, Glen Powell and Mahershala Ali in supporting roles.
Perhaps we don’t have lawful segregation but we still have inner city schools, a pay gap and the Black Lives Matter movement. Much has changed but we still have miles to go.
The struggle for equality has been a long and painful one and the film makes you appreciate the strides that past generations have taken, especially women who have been and still are underestimated.
Perhaps we don’t have lawful segregation but we still have inner city schools, a pay gap and the Black Lives Matter movement. Much has changed but we still have miles to go.
Films such as this shed light on the issues of racism that our society is facing today. The lives of the women are representative of a constant struggle that colored women have faced and still do face. The film is a daunting reminder of our shameful history and how we should never dare make the same mistakes towards people of any race or gender.
The women of the film are absolutely inspiring and the dedication to their dreams and careers in spite of various intangible obstacles is poignant. All the women that lived life on their own terms so the future generations could deserve multitudes of praise for their empowering achievements.
The film itself is an accomplishment and is a must watch.
