As Hollywood continues to crank out films based on true stories, there is actually a certain group of those films based on space travel. We've seen them before: "The Right Stuff" '83 and "Apollo 13" '95 to mention a couple. So since these films with similar premises have been popular, Hollywood had to produce another with a group of women as underdogs coming into being effectively titled "Hidden Figures".
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, including their boss, Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) and Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons), specifically tasked with calculating the momentous launch of astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) into orbit, and guaranteeing his safe return. Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer), Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) and Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) 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 centered them in U.S. history as true American heroes.
Others to round out the cast are Kirsten Dunst as Vivian Mitchell, Mahershala Ali as Colonel Jim Johnson, Katherine's husband, Aldis Hodge as Levi Jackson, Mary's husband, Kimberly Quinn as Ruth, Olek Krupa as Karl Zielinski, Kurt Krause as Sam Turner and Ken Strunk as Jim Webb.
This was delineated well by director Theodore Melfi ("Winding Roads" '99, "St. Vincent" '14) plus many shorts. The way he was able to dissect each of these women's lives in order to set up their connection with their newfound careers was carefully conveyed. It was written well by Allison Schroeder and Melfi based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly. Each scene was certainly created in a way that led the audience with the ability to connect with these women and their plight. Melfi has the brunt of the experience here writing the films he's directed, whereas Schroeder has only TV movies and TV series to her credit, but even with the limited experience, these two writers were able to create a screenplay that soared and we, the audience, were the lucky recipients for it.
Each of the actors playing the different women were incredibly effective in their roles to a point that even with their roles playing distinct personalities, they played these characters with finesse and aplomb. Henson as Katherine simply shined and could possibly be nominated come Oscar time. We'll see in a number of days when the nominations are announced. And this is certainly one of Costner's better efforts as the space program's director. He played this character with determination yet compassion as he was walking that tightrope between getting the job done and making sure his women had what they needed to help him get that job done, especially when he has people breathing down his neck to get that proverbial job done.
Not only is this a good story--one that I never knew about, but one that teaches us all that no matter what gender one is, no matter what one's race is or no matter what profession one is involved in, anyone can succeed and better themselves in spite of the obstacles involved to suppress.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG 127mins.
No comments:
Post a Comment