Hidden Figures is Black Girl Magic, Black History, Women's History, and American History! It is both inspiration and affirmation. It is inspiring to hear the story of these amazing Black women, Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), and how they excelled and succeeded in a predominantly White, male industry in a setting that by all accounts was set up in such a way that they should not have been able to flourish. Vaughan was supervising the "colored computers" (Black women who did calculations for NASA), but NASA would not create a supervisor position to be over the "colored computers." Jackson had the talent and education to be an engineer, but the NASA handbook required advance coursework at the local, White-only university. And Johnson had to run half a mile just to get to the colored women's bathroom and had to push for access to critical information for her calculations that ensured a safe launch and landing! At the same time, many of Johnson's experiences felt like affirmation of my own feelings when I've encountered similar experiences as a Black woman in corporate America.
Each of them tackled different areas of the Black woman's experience in predominantly White, male industries. Jackson, and her husband Levi (Aldis Hodge), were the more militant of the bunch. Jackson is outspoken from her first scene, and after receiving a gentle push to pursue becoming an engineer, she goes to the court to seek the right to attend the White-only high school that offers the advance coursework needed for the NASA engineering program. And Levi has the couple's sons, and the audience, watching actual clips from the bombing of the freedom riders bus. Vaughan exemplified two lessons; African-Americans have to work twice as hard (teaching herself and the other "colored computers" how to program the new IBM computer, making them the go-to experts on the IBM computer instead of replaceable by the IBM computer) and to look out for each other (refusing to work on the IBM without taking the "colored computers" with her as her team). And Johnson didn't allow sexism and racism to keep her from doing her job to the best of her ability! She also found love with Jim Johnson (Mahershala Ali), making for a sweet, minor love subplot.
Monae, Spencer, and Henson put on superb performances, with Henson having one of the climactic scenes when she let's Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) have it after attempting to scold her for taking long breaks not knowing she had been running half a mile to get to the nearest colored women's bathroom! Costner, Kirsten Dunst (who played Vivian Michael), and Jim Parsons (who played Paul Stafford), also put on strong performances; as did Hodge and Ali. And the scenery was set perfectly with the set, costuming, and actual footage from the time period (even including MLK and JFK). Coupled with the acting, one can easily forget they're sitting in a theater in 2016.
Overall, the film was very well done! I highly encourage everyone to go see it on Christmas Day (if it is released in your city) or on January 6, 2017 when it is released nationwide.
9/10