Synopsis:
As the United States raced against Russia to put a man in space, NASA found untapped talent in a group of African-American female mathematicians that served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in U.S. history. Based on the unbelievably true life stories of three of these women, known as “human computers”, we follow these women as they quickly rose the ranks of NASA alongside many of history’s greatest minds specifically tasked with calculating the momentous launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, and guaranteeing his safe return. Dorothy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson crossed all gender, race, and professional lines while their brilliance and desire to dream big, beyond anything ever accomplished before by the human race, firmly cemented them in U.S. history as true American heroes.
-Written by 20th Century Fox
Film Review:
“Here at NASA we all pee the same color.”- Al Harrison (Kevin Costner). This film although quite light hearted with a comical touch here and there, has mainly emphasized on the reality of the black community during the 1960’s. Especially the segregated toilets for colored and white people. The film showed only few of the many racism and discrimination to black people back then. As well as showing the constant fight for freedom and equality during those years. And amidst the struggle, three strong and highly intelligent black women have come not only to work at NASA at the “colored computer” department. But to help America make history on space exploration. These women were the best mathematicians of their time and were even more accurate than the newly introduced IBM computers then. They calculated by hand and used different methods including the ancient math theories in solving the formula to help get the astronauts into space and back to Earth safely.
The film has an amazing story telling, well directed and flowed quite naturally with three great subplots. The beginning scene where Johnson (Taraji Henson) was first introduced as a child prodigy with advanced mathematical skills then grew up to be a NASA employee who then became friends with Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Jackson (Janelle Monáe). I liked how director, Theodore Melfi introduced the three women when their car broke down on their way to work one day. It seemed like right there and then their distinct personalities were already established even just at the start of the film. And from there you can see how the three of them evolved and how their stories unfold. You will see how they managed to make themselves who they are now despite the discrimination and the limitations they had to go through every day as a black woman then.
For Vaughan who was the leader and the strongest among them three, she made history by becoming the first African-American Supervisor who is proficient in coding languages such as FORTRAN. She was an epitome of outstanding leadership, leading a team of black women in the computing department as well as other departments in NASA during those times. Her story is truly inspiring and encouraging to all women of color. Johnson, being the most intelligent but timid among them was the main person who made ground breaking calculations for the first space flight, launch window for Mercury Mission and trajectory for Apollo 11 and more. She is still alive and has received Medal of Freedom last 2015. Lastly, Jackson who was portrayed as the funniest and spunkiest of them was the first black female engineer. During her time as an engineer at NASA, she worked in several divisions: the Compressibility Research Division, Full-Scale Research Division, High-Speed Aerodynamics Division, and the Subsonic-Transonic Aerodynamics Division. Talk about beating the odds, right?
The casting was spot on with Kevin Costner’s great comeback role as Al Harrison, Johnson’s boss at NASA. He played the role very well as a tough on the outside but soft on the inside kind of guy. The rest of the cast like, Kirsten Dunst who played as Mrs. Mitchell, was such an amazing supporting actress. She played such an important role in the story as someone who was initially seen as a bad person but then turns out to have goodness inside and becomes a symbol for change. Dunst was outstanding as a supporting actress in this film.
This movie is definitely for everyone and most especially to the African-American community for this story is everything to them. It is part of their history and not many films like this have made such great impact on the current generation until now. An awe inspiring and remarkable stories of women of color making history not only to their country but to the world.
Not to mention the film’s technical achievements such as the cinematography, which was stunning. The costume and makeup was brilliant with all the retro colors and styles, it was as if I was in 1960. The production was incredible, as well as the nice perky soundtracks written mainly by Pharell Williams. This film is definitely another contender for one of the best films this 2017. Not to be missed!
In NZ cinemas January 26, 2017.