It Was Hidden and I'm Kind of Pissed Off About It

My movie pal and I went to see a pretty great movie called "Hidden Figures" the other day.  It has garnered a lot of attention recently and that attention is well deserved.  This movie is cool.

Dorothy Vaughan

Octavia Spencer is Dorothy Vaughan, the computer whiz who teaches herself FORTRAN.  Yes, I remember that language.  I am that old.

Taraji P. Henson is Katherine Johnson, the incredibly gifted math genius who helps figure out...well, I couldn't tell you what she figures out because it IS rocket science.

Katherine Johnson

And Janelle Monae is Mary Jackson, an engineering prodigy who cannot be an engineer (maybe, maybe not) because she is female, black and it is 1961 in Virginia.  Enough said.

I am a complete sucker for anything Kevin Costner is in and he honestly doesn't disappoint here.  He is still a stud in my book.  Plus, he had some pretty good lines and I love it when he's funny.

It is rare that I go to a movie and not get a little antsy.  Even the best ones get me a little shifty in my seat.  "Hidden Figures" (running time 2hr 7 min) kept me completely engaged.  I never checked my watch once.  Maybe it was because I was laughing a lot.  Or maybe it was because the audience was really getting into it and clapping and cheering at all the right spots.  Or maybe it was because this is just a damn fine movie.

Mary Jackson

Now on the flip side, this movie kind of pissed me off.  That's right.  Why?  Because I want to know how in the hell I had never heard of the human computers that worked their asses off at NASA.  You shouldn't have to be a Women's Studies major to find out about these amazing people.  I don't really care if they were black, white, yellow or purple polka dotted; they and all other women who have had a hand in important work, should be celebrated along with the men.  Add the fact that these computers were African American and I honestly do not understand how they ever got anything accomplished. But they did.  Amazing.

I do remember the events recreated in this movie.  And I do remember that we saw women working for NASA well before they were common place anywhere else.  I also remember thinking that those women must have been pretty smart.  I guess it's the glasses.

Hidden Figures movie