Watching ‘Hidden Figures’ (Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe), and Recalling Life Lessons From One’s Own Past

MASTER MINDS: Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) have a reason to smile – they are the brains behind major operations at a NASA facility in “Hidden Figures.” Photos courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

BY VW

IT is difficult to watch "Hidden Figures" as just a movie.

Indeed, it is extremely difficult, because I am witnessing history and recalling childhood memories, which have spawn several observations.

Based on Margot Lee Shetterly's book of the same name, "Hidden Figures" tells the story of mathematician Katherine G. Johnson who was instrumental in the success of NASA’s Project Mercury and other space missions, as well as the story of two other black female mathematicians working at a segregated NASA facility in Hampton, VA.

The film opened in limited release on 25 Dec. and widely on 6 Jan. and stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe as the title characters.

"Hidden Figures" is set during Jim Crow, a period that is all-too often forgotten in this culture where too many folk believe we live in a post-racial society. Of course, that notion was obliterated, the recent presidential campaign being a glaring and disturbing example to the contrary.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am black. I do not identify as African-American. In vogue since the mid ‘90s, African-American is the latest appellation for certain Americans of African descent. Heretofore, dating to circa mid-'60s, we were black. Before that we were Colored, which was preceded by Negro, for instance.

To aid the understanding of foreigners and/or those in places like New York City who have had little exposure to Americans of African descent who did not grow up/were not born in one of the five boroughs or the TriState area, when I invoke the moniker black, I mean that my West African ancestors - like the African-American characters in "Hidden Figures" - were snatched from West Africa and brought and enslaved in what we now know as the United States of America.

My African ancestors were not dropped off on a Caribbean island, therefore while I am black, I am not Dominican, Haitian, Jamaican or Puerto Rican, for instance.

Now an “official” supervisor, Dorothy (Octavia Spencer) leads her ladies to the NASA computer lab.

It is on the backs of my African ancestors and those of the "Hidden Figures" characters that this great country was built. It was they who were on the frontlines of the movements that have made our republic reasonably livable for all non-European people - particularly those of African descent - and a good deal of European-descent Americans.

The experiences of the women in "Hidden Figures" reflect stories that I grew up hearing in the home of my grandparents who raised my brother and me. They often spoke with visitors to our home about the struggles they and others faced and still did.

When I was as young as 10, I was programmed to believe – like the hidden figures – that I would have to be twice as good at a job as a white person to be considered equal. Though started at home, this teaching continued at school, starting in 7th grade.

I did not grow up in post-civil rights America with the notion, either overtly or covertly, that there is inherent superiority in whiteness or that blacks get jobs, not because they are competent, but because of Affirmative Action, regardless of their level of competence.

On the contrary, I was generally socialized to believe that black people were often overqualified and were passed over for jobs by less-qualified whites. That black women, in particular, knew better than anyone else how to run whatever office in which they were employed. So often, they would train a white male who would become their boss.

This is the workplace that is so much in evidence in "Hidden Figures." Do note that I do not believe in the inherent superiority, inferiority, competence or incompetence of any ethnic group.

Meanwhile, another observation. The events in the film are unfolding in the early '60s. Some of the most explosive developments of the Civil Rights Movement have yet to take place. The March on Washington has not been organized, nor the Montgomery boycott. Roe vs. Wade is not yet law. Abortion is illegal. It is very much a WASP man's world.

Except for NASA and a very few other places, women in the workplace were mainly secretaries or cleaning ladies. The former must adhere to a strict dress code. In this environment, it is not at all exceptional for John Glenn (Glen Powell), for the time, a progressive in the main, to refer to Katherine Johnson as a girl. Not only is she just as educated and older than he, she is a widow with three children.

Katherine, is in the current vernacular, a grown-a_ _ woman. To paraphrase Walter Cronkite, "That's the way it was."

Mary (Janelle Monáe) and other Hampton, Virginia residents watch and worry as the Project Mercury mission experiences a snafu.

"Hidden Figures" is a tad too reverent and wants a more brisk pace. However, without exception, the performances are solid, particularly TPH as Katherine, the “computer” who wrote the schematics that launched JG into space and back safely down to earth. Fans of "Empire" may be surprised to learn that girlfriend is an actor with a capital A and was thus long before that popular series.

My only real quibble with the film is that it focuses too much on the lead-up to the Mercury mission and the white characters, particularly that of Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) at the expense of more of the interior lives and interior struggles of the three protagonists.

These dynamic women are living under Jim Crow, state-sanctioned discrimination, racism and separatism. It's highly doubtful that they returned home and uttered nary a word about the overt unfairness they endured at the office.

Undoubtedly, Katherine complained – perhaps bitterly even – at least once about the half-mile journey she was required to make several times a day just to relieve herself. No doubt, all three railed against various indignities at some point.

A final and striking observation about "Hidden Figures" is that it offers a depiction of black womanhood in the guise of a lady. It is one of three films to open recently about which this claim can be made. The others are "Loving" and "Fences."

Katherine (Taraji P. Henson) reads to her daughters after a long and challenging day at the office.

How gratifying it is to see black women on the big screen who share a marked resemblance to the kind of women I – and no doubt, countless others – knew growing up and with whom I am still acquainted. Yes, the hyper-sexualized, hypo-intellectualized vixen and the coarse, crass, corpulent neck-roller are a sad reality. But far more black women are class and dignity personified.

It is utterly possible for black women to deal with stressful situations without elevating their voices and raining down an avalanche of expletives. They can calmly explain why they are not where they are not expected to be. Certainly, sisters make cool, reasoned arguments to attain what should be rightfully theirs anyway.

And when they are laboring under extreme righteous indignation, they have the wherewithal to express it and remain every inch a lady, though their hair is a mess.

The film brings these women, and so much more, out of the background, to front and center. Hidden figures no longer.


Now an “official” supervisor, Dorothy (Octavia Spencer, front and center) and the ladies she supervises at the NASA computer lab.

“Hidden Figures” is rated PG for thematic elements and some language; visit http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/hidden-figures to learn more about the film.

Day 4 NYFF: 'Melancholia' and 'Mud and 'Soldiers'

Kirsten Dunst as a bride who is not happy about the life ahead in "Melancholia." Photos courtesy of the 49th New York Film Festival.

JUSTINE (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) are two sisters who could not be more different but whose love for each other is unshakeable.

It is on their relationship that Lars von Trier’s ethereal “Melancholia” turns. The film makes its North American premiere today at the 49th New York Film Festival. It is one of several films in the festival that has an end-of-the-world theme.

Melancholia of the title is both a planet near the sun that threatens all known life and an apt characterization of the condition afflicting Justine. It opens with a dreamlike sequence featuring Justine that morphs into her motoring to her wedding reception with her groom, Michael (“True Blood’s” Alexander Skarsgard comporting himself competently).

From the start things seem off-center as the newlyweds’ hired car gets stuck in the mud and each replaces the driver at the wheel in an attempt to free the vehicle. When they finally arrive at the lavish reception financed by Claire and her harried husband, John (Kiefer Sutherland), at a swanky private club with a golf course and stables, they are about four hours late. Though she has kept her guests waiting, an oblivious Justine insists on introducing Michael to her horse. Incredibly, guests appear to have been awaiting their arrival with congenial patience. (See video below).

Doom is palpable, and Justine is hanging on by the flimsiest of threads. It is rather obvious that this marriage will not survive the reception. The only question is how will it end. KD, who won the best actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival, is transportive and gives a transcendent performance as a bride who is out of it. She’s all vacant stares and empty smiles, gading about the reception, grounds and main house as if she has smoked the best hashish or marijuana on earth. All the while the planet, Melancholia, is threatening to burst from behind the sun and take everyone with it. This latter event unsettles Claire.



“Melancholia” can be viewed as two films in one. The first is about the destruction of a marriage caused by a woman’s uncontrollable demons within. The second is about the destruction of the planet and the outward anxiety and helplessness of woman in the face of it. In Part 1, Claire is the rock that gets Justine through a wedding reception that she cannot otherwise bear. Justine in the second part provides some comfort for an inconsolable Claire.

KD's Justine is utterly believable as a woman who can’t face her own fate but in her quiet way helps her beloved sister to do so. CG doesn’t fair as well. Claire has it so together in the first part of the film that it is difficult to accept that she is coming wholly undone later on. Her disquiet is not resonant. Still, hers is a strong performance to a large degree because she has such a commanding countenance. She effortlessly conveys a plethora of emotions with a cocked head or open stare.

Tomotaka Takasa's "Mud and Soldiers" (1939) is one of 37 films in "Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses: Celebrating the Nikkatsu Centennial."

LvT (“Dogville”) has assembles a strong cast for his latest out-there piece of filmmaking. KS delivers an acceptable performance but is terribly miscast as Claire’s slightly uptight husband. John Hurt and Charlotte Rampling, however are sublime in small roles as the womens’ over-the-top, dysfunctional parents.

Other screenings today at NYFF include “Capricious Young Man,” “Susan Orlean: Rin Tin Tin, the Life and the Legend,” “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” and “Mud and Soldiers.”

Visit http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2011/schedule to learn more about the 49th New York Film Festival: including schedule, repeat screenings, ticket and venue information.