Hidden Figures: Leading a hidden revolution

This biopic of African American women at NASA is invigorating, lively and sassy

Breaking new ground Watching Janelle Monáe, Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer shatter the walls of sexism and racism with a wrecking ball of intelligence in Hidden Figures is deeply fulfilling.

Three years ago, when ISRO scientists successfully set a satellite orbiting around Mars, photographs of the organisation’s ecstatic female staff members went viral, setting off a spate of media coverage of Indian women scientists. Hidden Figures highlights a similar triumph. The film takes you back to the U.S. in 1961, where “human computers”, a room full of black women, tucked away in a separate wing of NASA, calculated the trajectory for the launch of an Atlas rocket and many other successful space projects that followed. Unlike with ISRO, the contribution of these black women was appreciated much later, with a film being made after more than half a century. But with the current divisive atmosphere in the U.S., if there’s a time after thecivil rights movement for this movie to be relevant, it’s now.

Based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s non-fiction book of the same title and directed by Theodore Melfi, the biographical drama is fronted by three black actresses: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe. Henson plays Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who struggles to find her space in the NASA Task Group that sent astronaut John Glen into orbit. Spencer is Dorothy Vaughan, who fights to acquire a supervisor’s position at the West Computing Building. Aspiring to become NASA’s first female black engineer, Monáe as Mary Jackson makes her case against segregated schools.

Watching the three shatter the walls of sexism and racism with a wrecking ball of intelligence is like listening to Beyoncé’s

Lemonade : it’s feisty, sassy and deeply fulfilling. While there are tectonic structural and societal changes to made, the real kick is in seeing them win their everyday battles. For instance, when a white male engineer patronisingly asks Monáe, “If you were a white man, wouldn’t you want to be an engineer?”. She responds, “I wouldn’t want to. I’d already be one.”

When not casually dropping razor-sharp dialogues, the three ladies have their big meltdown moments. As predictable as they may be, they all inspire applause. To complement the brimming impudence, you have Pharrell Williams’ upbeat jazz tunes. But more melodious is the click-clack of the trio’s stilettos, as they periodically march down the corridors of NASA to save the day.

There’s nothing grand about the cinematography or the production of Hidden Figures , which keeps the focus tightly on storytelling and characterisation. Despite appearing to be moulded perfectly to cash in on the #OscarsSoWhite backlash, this film sets out to dismiss the same white validation that the campaign desires.

If you’re still on the fence about feminism and have tweeted #NotAllMen and are afraid to watch this one, don’t worry. The African-American men in this movie are heart-warmingly supportive of their wives, so it certainly is “not all men”. (But just the white ones at NASA). So while educating and entertaining you, these black women will gently, but effectively, crush the white male ego.