As we are transported back to 1961, Hidden Figures shows us a world with racial segregation, unfair working environments, and culture. When the race against Russia to launch the first rocket into space was present, three African-American women took action to lead the U.S. to their first missile launch. Since computers weren’t as advanced as they are today, African-American women, like Katherine Goble, were hired to do the calculations of a computer. Yes, people were hired to be “computers”. Because of their disadvantages in that time involving racial ideologies, the work they accomplished was always overlooked and given credit to a white male. One scene that captures the spirits of the movie is when Katherine Goble, the main character, finally voices her opinions on her working environment and how she has to walk across town to use the bathroom. This showed both the struggles and the perseverance of Katherine working in these conditions. Through the judgment and segregation these women received, Hidden Figures shows how crucial their work was towards NASA and the missile launch.

        Hidden Figures is a nonfiction move that was released in early January of 2017, and was directed by Theodore Melfi. The movie was distributed by 20th Century Studios and has a score of 93% on both the tomatometer and audience score. It brings amazing actors and actresses including Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monàe, and Kevin Costner to play historic characters that contributed to NASA’s accomplishments. In the movie, three brilliant African-American women contribute to one of NASA’s greatest operations in history.

        One character, Katherine Goble, is an extraordinary mathematician who is the main focus of the movie. Her life at work and home is followed through the movie showing how she was critical to the success of the first U.S crewed space flight. Another character, Dorothy Vaughn, was in charge of all the African-American human computers, and was respected as NASA’s first African American manager. She contributed to more advanced computers and was shown in the movie to be leader-like. Vaughn’s determination in the movie led to the succession of NASA’s mission. The third African American woman who was also a hidden figure was Mary Jackson. In the movie, we see that she strives to be an aerospace engineer yet she is unable to get the education she needs because of ideologies at that time. Even with this struggle, we see her persevere through these judgments and assist in NASA’s mission. These three women were all connected and have achieved so much for the United States. Hidden Figures captures every content, sad, and stressful moment of each individual's lives perfectly, and helps distribute the knowledge of these women so that they finally have recognition. 

       Furthermore, I believe the movie was intriguing in multiple ways. A character I found interesting was Al Harrison. He was a white male and the head of the Space Task Group. Even with the racial ideologies society obtained at that time, Harrison believed in Katherine Goble, the mathematician, and helped her gain the recognition she deserved. A scene that striked me was when Al Harrison decided to take down  a sign that read “colored ladies only”. This was to protest that all humans are the same and races should not be accounted for when using necessary things like restrooms. This character is largely based on Robert C. Gilruth, the actual head at the time, and he helped destroy segregation between different races. I also liked the friendship between the three protagonists of the movie as it connected everyone together and made the struggles and movements of African Americans more impactful.

         Overall, I recommend this movie to teens and adults as kids will not be able to fully understand the movie and it's message. These hidden figures that are in the movie deserve their recognition, and it brings that to them. Not only was the movie entertaining, but also educational. The history of NASA is talked about and watchers will be able to understand the segregation African Americans suffered through at that time. All the characters were played flawlessly by their actors/actresses and the movie kept you engaged the full way through. It was interesting to get to know about these characters and how they assisted NASA which made it a great watch. I recommend you watch Hidden Figures because it will impact you emotionally.