Hidden Figures add up to success

Janelle Monae (l), Taraji P Henson and Octavia Spencer

It is very rare to see a film about women which takes a celebratory tone. It is even rarer when the women in question are women of colour, which is what makes Hidden Figures such a transcendent experience. It is a joyous, feel-good film which not only celebrates achievement and empowerment but also makes one wonder how this story has remained untold for so long.

The story of America’s conquest of space is invariably told through the filter of the Mercury Seven, John Glenn et al whose story is superbly told in Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff. However, as fans of Wolfe will know, these men were just ‘spam in a can’ and considered themselves as such. The real challenge faced those whose job it was to get them into space and back again in one piece.

Hidden Figures turns on an accident of timing. To qualify for its massive budget appropriation NASA had to be an equal opportunity employer which meant it had to employ women of colour. No mean feat for an organisation headquartered in the Deep South. Of course it didn’t have to promote them, just employ them.

So this story is one of three women trying to pursue their career dreams in the face of, at best, intransigence and at worst downright opposition. Maths prodigy Katherine Goble (Taraji P. Henson), administrator Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and scientist Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) are each very good at what they do but are constantly thwarted by prejudice.

Goble has no toilet facilities in her building, Vaughan is denied a promotion she richly deserves, while Jackson is unable to get the qualifications she needs to advance her career because of a segregationist educational policy.

What is remarkable about Hidden Figures is that none of these women requires the saving intervention of a white male. They each have agency in their own resolution and are perfectly capable of sorting things out for themselves. This, I think, is the most important aspect of Hidden Figures, and conversely it is the area which has attracted most criticism.

The film has been accused of a certain ‘made for TV’ sensibility and while I wouldn’t go that far I would concede that it tells its story in broad strokes. However, to my mind, the content is so important that the form has to be as accessible to as many people as possible. This is a film that will inspire women of all ages and ethnicities so why not celebrate the accomplishment of these remarkable women in a feel-good style.

The performances from all three women are marvellous. They bring home the real economic and social cost of racism without ever being strident or preachy. Henson is the flashiest role but the others make a big impression. Mahershala Ali, for the second time this week, contributes a small but memorable role and Kevin Costner continues his career revival in an understated role as the man whose job it is to get all this to work.

The one genuinely transgressive issue with Hidden Figures is in its casting. Jim Parsons is a grudging and narrow-minded scientist while Kirsten Dunst is a prissy, condescending office manager. Neither of them is especially well served by their roles but it does make a change to see the two thankless, stereotypical roles played by white actors.