'Hidden Figures' is a history lesson worth watching

Hidden Figures has already been nominated for numerous awards, after watching it you'll understand why. The film does a wonderful job giving audiences an inside look at a little known aspect of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's history.

Hidden Figures tells the story of Katherine Johnson (Taraji P Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), three African-American women who played a pivotal role in NASA's success during the 1960's. The movie follows each of them through their individual struggles as they try to advance in their respective fields despite the racism and sexism that stands in their way.

Henson does a wonderful job portraying Johnson, who is a shy, soft-spoken genius mathematician. After the Russians successful Sputnik I mission, Johnson is assigned to help the Space Task Group, led by director Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), send American astronauts into space. She has to suffer through an overbearing supervisor, Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons), co-workers who ignore her and won't drink from the same coffee container as her and having to walk over a half a mile to use the colored women's restroom. When Harrison confronts her about her bathroom trips this leads to an eruption where Henson really exhibits her acting talents.

Monae is probably the most fun to watch in her role as Mary Jackson. She is smart, sassy, outspoken and very funny. Monae has a bright future in acting should she choose to pursue it. The film follows her on her journey to become an engineer. To do so she must find a way to get accepted into an all white school so she can complete the necessary classes to become one.

Director Theodore Melfi does a good job keeping the movie lighthearted and humorous while still highlighting the struggles of the three individual women. The emotional and moral payoff at the end makes all of the sad moments throughout all worth it.

Vaughn finds a way to save her and numerous other colored women's jobs and getting rightfully promoted to supervisor after being denied initially. Jackson is accepted into the all white school and completes the classes, becoming an engineer for NASA afterwards. Johnson ingeniously finds the correct equation to successfully help astronaut John Glenn come back to Earth after being launched into space.

All in all the movie tells a wonderful story, while teaching history and entertaining at the same time. Hopefully this will be a sign to Hollywood that movies featuring a minority-led cast can be commercially successful.

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