Hidden Figures
Unedited Thoughts - This is part of my unedited thoughts series.
Based on true events – this never bodes well. We meet Katherine as a child and we immediately know that she is gifted. The way that the community rally around her and her parents is fantastic.
There is a great film making moment setup here when her teacher asks her to solve the complex problem on the board she takes the chalk that is handed to her and solves it. This is referenced in a later scene when she is at a department of defence briefing and the exact same thing happens and she blows them all out of the water with her brilliance.
The first scene that we meet three ladies when they are grown up is great. Their car is broken down on the way to work at Langley and a white cop stops. We know there is going to be trouble and from this one scene we learn the state of play – race relations and the sexism that the three leads will face.
We also get to meet the three ladies forceful nature and the different ways it manifests itself as they get this police officer to escort them to work. Truly great script writing.
The use of the African American ladies as ‘computers’ feels demeaning at first. But there is a lot going on here. First, computers isn’t necessarily the derogatory term that it sounds like. Second these are relatively good positions for such talented ladies. Also looking back now at the term it has a powerful ring to it. You were so good at math you are called a computer.
The polish engineer who is working on the re-entry vehicle is a great counter point to Mary who is encouraged to become an engineer by him. He makes the point about escaping Nazi Germany and launching people into space – if he can do that what can she do?
Then our heroine, Katherine, is placed in the Space Team headed by Al Harrison, Kevin Costner. She spends much of her time trying to fight against the ridiculous restrictions placed on her.
One of the mathematicians redacts all of his reports so that it is almost impossible for Katherine to check his work – but she finds a way. The racist oppression is something else – They don’t want her drinking out of their coffee percolator so get a crappy one installed – etc etc.
By far the worst is that there is no bathroom for Katherine in this section of Langley so she has to treck across the base to the west side to the coloured bathroom. While this is powerful the first time – and frustrating the second. The third time is just ridiculous. Her boss blows up at her the last time that this happens – And she lets loose back.
He had no idea that there were no bathrooms and about how she was been treated. After storms out of the room he paces over to the coffee cart and dumbfoundedly pulls the ‘coloured’ label off the percolator. This was a powerful scene and the tension in the room was palpable.
Yet the very next scene destroys it all. Harrison is taking a sledge hammer to the ‘coloured’ bathroom sign in the Western section – which is the bathroom that Katherine has been travelling to this entire time. The signs he should have been removing were the ‘white’s only’ in his building. I cannot believe that this got missed as it feels like a mistake – but it’s there so I have to rate the film on it.
The undertone of sexism in the black community feels a bit shoehorned in for me. At the church picnic right at the start both Mary’s partner and Katherine’s would-be husband make a big deal over what women can and can’t do. Then nothing really at all. You can’t try to force further ‘ism’ discussion and then leave it dead.
There are some truly terrible lines in this film. “We all pee the same colour” is up there.
There are some fantastic moments as well. Dorothy’s character has been trying to negotiate a supervisor position for herself and when the IBM arrived – protect her girls jobs. She does both by teaching herself fortran. This culminates in a great scene of her leading the entire group over to the new computer room.
When Jim finally proposes to Katherine the reaction of her and the kids is actually really touching – “Why are you crying? He hasn’t asked you yet.” To which Katherine responds – “He will.” Turns to Jim “Won’t you?!?”. It has a realness about it that is just fantastic.
Then after Katherine has saved them all – many many times – they fire her – because the IBM is much faster. Then, just as they are about to launch Harrison recognises that the numbers are off. He confers with Stafford – Katherine’s co-worker – who agrees. The big flop for me here is that neither of them recognise that they need her to check the numbers.
The call for her comes from Glen – the man they are about to launch. This is fine as they set him up from the moment he comes on screen as been progressive – he ignores the rules when they arrive at Langley to meet the African American ladies. So it makes sense for him to request this – especially after her display at the Department of Defence briefing. It’s just sad that it isn’t Harrison or Stafford who make the call.
Katherine’s checking the figures is another brilliant scene as she calculates the landing zone and the telecast of the launch is happening on the TV in front of her.
Overall a fun movie but just a bit too Disney. Some nice scenes but also some poor ones.
