2016: The Year in Film: "Hidden Figures" Review

I talked about the genre of the "issue" film back in my review of Moonlight, and all films that deal with face, class, gender, sexuality, religion, or other issues of identity or political interest need, in my estimation, to avoid falling into the trap of existing ONLY for the issue. I feel that cheapens the message being sent by turning your work into an easily parodied message delivery system and makes your message more easily written off if its being delivered via transparent manipulation. So all films need to avoid this trap - message is important! crucial! more important than films by any possible measure! - BUT, if your film doesn't stand on its own merits as a film audiences will easily dismiss what you have to say and your message will suffer as a result.

So when I first heard about Hidden Figures my concern was that it would fall into the "bad" category of the "issue" film. The advertising looked cheesy and it appeared to risk falling trap to the temptation to let the message overwhelm the film itself. The good news - it didn't! But it's always something that comes to mind when I see a film like this.

Hidden Figures covers the - 100% true! - story of African-American women working for NASA in the early days of the American space program. These women are patriots, role models, brilliant figures who never got their due to the unfortunate realities of American society in the 1960's. The film focuses on three women among the many who worked in various roles, all of whom left their mark on the space program.

The Good: the performances across the board are solid. Taraji P. Henson (Katherine), Janelle Monae (Mary - making her transition to acting she was in 2 best picture nominees this year, also playing a supporting role in Moonlight) and Octavia Spencer (Dorothy) all rise to the challenge that the material presents and do it with aplomb. The always solid Kevin Costner and my man Mahershala Ali are solid as well. The best thing that this film did was making the plot revolve around the space program itself as NASA races against the Soviets as opposed to any of the personal struggles of the protagonists. This allows the film to be MORE than a message movie and roots its important message in a fundamental patriotism and commonality that is all too rare in the 21st century. It's Apollo 13 meets Selma and that is in no way a bad thing.



The Bad: some of the obstacles to the advancement and success of the protagonists and the space program itself are painted with an overbroad brush, as Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons seem more like mustache-twirling villains than real people. The line between "good" white people and "bad" white people in this film surely oversimplifies reality and ultimately detracts from the larger narrative. Additionally, as good as the performances and the story are - the film itself feels derivative (Apollo 13 meets Selma, remember?) and doesn't do anything to distinguish itself from films of a similar vein - which does a disservice to the remarkable story it's telling.

 Ultimately, this is an uplifting, deeply patriotic and hopeful story that needed to be told decades ago. We can only hope its style of patriotic optimism returns to the forefront of American culture and replaces the undercurrent of bitterness, antagonism, anger and ignorance that is seemingly underlying so much of our public life today. This film is well worth watching, both for the story itself (which takes some liberties with the real story as all "based on a true story" films do) and for the quality of the acting, pacing and plot therein. Log off of Twitter and watch Hidden Figures if you want to remind yourself of what the indomitable American spirit could be once again. It's certainly a family friendly and uplifting time at the movies. Probably the most hopeful of all of the acclaimed films released this year.

8/10. A well done and incredible story that ultimately doesn't do enough as a film to put it over the top into true greatness.