Based on a true story and directed by Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures tells the story of three African-American women that worked at NASA  in the race for space against Russia during the early 1960s.

These women were, in fact, hidden figures. During the days of Jim Crow, the African-American female staff were largely hidden away in a segregated wing a mile and a half away from the wing where the white staff was located in the Langley Research Center. Taraji P. Henson plays Katherine Johnson, a human computer who started at West Virginia State University at the age of 15. Alongside her friends Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), Katherine works with complicated numbers in order to launch the first successful American-manned missions into space.

Receiving a 93% rating from Rotten Tomatoes, Hidden Figures topped box offices for two weeks in a row and I consider that to be very much justified. I saw the movie due to my mother believing that it was very necessary for me to see since she tends to believe that all movies have a lesson in them. People around me at work also suggested that the movie was worth seeing so on a cold day, I decided to spend my day seeing it.

When I say “spend my day,” I certainly mean it. The movie is a good two hours and seven minutes. There are definitely some parts of the movie that were boring, but this is also coming from a person that loves horror movies and needs to see someone die in every movie. Either way, the movie did keep my attention past those parts.

The acting was genuine and believable. I give special credit to Taraji P. Henson for playing such a different character compared to her role as Cookie on “Empire“. Along with this, Jim Parsons, best known for his role as Dr. Sheldon Cooper on “The Big Bang Theory“, shifted greatly to play the role as the racist head engineer of the Space Task Group, Paul Stafford.

It was also really great to see Kevin Costner and Kirsten Dunst return to the screen along with new faces such as Mahershala Ali as Katherine’s love interest and Glen Powell, who played the role of astronaut John Glenn.

Overall, the cast was magnificently ensembled with such a wide range of talented actors and actresses.

The movie is constructed in such a way that the viewer can feel the urgency during the Space Race and how that encouraged unity among a team divided by skin color in the era of Jim Crow.

There is an inspiring message that life will not always bend in one direction. Obstacles must be overcome first, but when faced with these obstacles quitting is not an option. In this movie, the biggest obstacle was hate.

Hate is shown to hurt progress and without progress, bigger obstacles cannot be overcome. Katherine, Dorothy and Mary worked with diligence and tenacity while there were so many barriers holding them back.

During these days, this movie provides a message that everyone needs to hear.

I give this movie a 9/10 because the message was simply brilliant. However, the few boring parts dropped it down a bit.