[Movie] Three Women Who Changed History with Their Minds: Hidden Figures

I have been watching some historical movies recently, and I came across Hidden Figures (2016), and trust me, I didn't expect what I watched because I was expecting the movie to be about space only. But what I left with was something about courage, knowing what you stand for and your value when the world keeps trying to throw all shades of things, which was absolutely brilliant. Because watching this movie and how things were done back then, I was like, how many people with such a brilliant mindset were ignored just because they were colored? I didn't expect to go reading about the characters online after the movie ended. What I admire most about this movie, unlike others, is that it didn't make anyone the superhero or the villain. Instead, I saw how complicated we humans can be sometimes.

Though there were only a few characters in this movie, one of the characters that I noticed first was Katherine Johnson. I admire her confidence even though it wasn't loud, and that was very difficult to ignore about her. Right from a very young age, she has been solving difficult mathematics, yet she strives for more anywhere she finds herself because she doesn't want to feel less.

What I love deeply about this movie is that she knew her worth and what she was capable of doing, and she never allowed people's opinions to shut her down or put her aside. She strived for excellence even when she was the only Black lady in the room.
The two other characters that were also closer to Katherine Johnson were Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan, two other inspiring characters that changed a lot about NASA.

For me, this movie won't be complete without the supporting character like Al Harrison, who was the boss of Katherine and also gave her the opportunity to prove herself, even though he was hard at first. Also, Vivian Mitchell and John Glenn demonstrated how difficult changes can look, especially when people have been surrounded and know what it means to be in an unfair system for so long. Some were stocked with their old beliefs, while some embraced the new beliefs.

What I categorically enjoyed most in this movie was when Al Harrison questioned Katherine about where she usually goes and why she's always late, and she explained the challenges of always running down the NASA campus for minutes just to use the "colored" restroom, and this scene became more interesting when Al went straight to the white restroom and broke the "white only" segregation sign with a crossbar while others watched him, and he told all of them that there are no more colored and everyone in his department is free to use the restroom without having to run some kilometers just to get access to the colored restroom. I also like the scene when John Glenn specifically asked for Katherine to check and confirm the numbers of the flight before he took off. I just felt so emotional watching that scene because she earned it.

I don't have any complaints about this movie because the little I had, I googled to confirm. And let me add this: a lot of people don't know their worth, but these three women that made the movie stood out for me: Katherine Johnson, who was a math genius right from a young age, made an unforgettable contribution to NASA that made flight trajectories to space possible and knowing exactly where and when they would land. Dorothy Vaughan, a woman with a very large heart, went ahead to teach herself the FORTRAN computer language when everything around NASA was changing and a lot were afraid that they could lose their jobs. She didn't keep this knowledge to herself; she taught others too and became the very first Black female supervisor in NASA. Mary Jackson was a very strong and resilient woman who stood against all odds that she was faced with and went ahead to become the first female Black engineer at NASA and contributed to the improvement of aircraft designs.

So, I will give this movie a 10/10 because these ladies' brilliance has nothing to do with skin type or race or gender. Their work alone didn't change a lot of things around NASA; it changed the system entirely till today because three women were courageous, brilliant, and knew their worth in a predominantly male environment that wasn't built to favor them. I won't waste time recommending this movie to anyone who enjoys inspiring true stories and learning how to know their worth.

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Rating: 100/100