Hidden Figures: A Grounded yet Heartfelt Drama
You know what’s worse than a bad movie? An incredibly mediocre crowd pleaser. Back in 2014, “St. Vincent” was that crowd pleaser that kind of disappointed me. The director of that movie, Theodore Melfi, takes another stab at filmmaking with the new historical drama “Hidden Figures.” While the film had it’s fair share of crowd pleasing moments, it still was a grounded and pleasant drama.
“Hidden Figures” follows the untold story of three African American women who work in NASA in the early 1960s. Fighting injustice in the work place, these three intelligent women try their best to complete their jobs during the space race while changing the grievances that plague their society.
Although this movie had its overly cinematic moments, thankfully, Melfi took a bit of a different route here. Instead of relying solely on the crowd pleasing moments, he actually created a more grounded story. What helped was, the fact that many hadn’t really known about this portion of history until this movie. The whole idea became more intriguing.
The characters in this film felt a little more human than some historical accounts. All of them had their own flaws much like society during this time period and Melfi touched on that nicely. The three main ladies played by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae all had a nice impact on the overall outcome of the film. They stole the show with their wit and swagger, while showing the intelligence perfectly.
Not to mention, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, and Jim Parsons all played their parts nicely as well. I liked how Melfi didn’t create an overtly racist arc with these three characters, but instead showed the segregation that went on throughout the work place. Whether it was the symbolism of the colored bathrooms, or the separate coffee pots, there were still obvious issues in even the biggest companies in the U.S.
I especially like Costner’s character because, he obviously had a little hesitance trusting African Americans however, his one goal was still to just get whatever job he needed done. If that meant getting rid of segregation, than he was all for it. He came off more as a nationalist than a racist which was nice to see.
My favorite aspect of this movie was, the fact that Melfi steered away from the usual brutal racism that went on during this time. Yes, this is important to show, but it’s been done so many times before. Ever since the 1980s, we have seen movies display the brutality that the white man showed. Instead, he took a much different route that was quite refreshing.
Other than the many unrealistic moments, another problem that I had was, the relationship Henson’s character had with her second husband. Played by “Moonlight” star Mahershala Ali, the relationship between him and Henson felt dis-ingenuine. It was very under-developed as well. This was a shame because the rest of the film felt a lot more realistic. Melfi again, had a hard time steering away from the usual generic dramatic scenes that still plague the genre today.
I felt that at some points, there was too much going on as well. Each woman had their own problems and at times, it felt a little too heavy on the content portion of the film. Some may find these parts hard to follow because of how quickly Melfi was going back and forth between characters.
Nonetheless, “Hidden Figures” is a pretty satisfying film for what it was. If it weren’t for the incredible performances and untold story though, I’m not sure if Melfi could have held his own. The directing was not all that impressive, but it still got the job done. The film is not quite in the tier of “Moonlight” or “La La Land.” Despite that, don’t be surprised if “Hidden Figures” receives a few Oscar nominations.
