Sometimes
you have to admire the maths. What a finely tuned script this was
from Allison Schroeder,
delivering uplift or burn-up at exactly the right moment in a
beautifully predicted orbit. So here comes the man holding out a
chalk to NASA's 'smart
girl' Katherine, posing
a test. It's a visual motif that recalls the day her elementary schoolmaster demonstrated his
faith in her latent genius for numbers. Turns out you can make
quadratic equations look elegant on a blackboard and make jotting
sums look like the breakout action of a heroine. You've
seen the trailers,
right? She smashes it out of the park and no-one in the auditorium is
going to begrudge the inevitability of that victory.
Equally
impressive were the calculations behind intersecting
stories of three remarkable women embodying different talents
within the sprawling NASA machine of 1961. The gifted mathematician
Katherine Goble
calculating the
trajectory of America's first astronauts. The natural engineer MaryJackson working in a Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, once she's battled the segregation barrier at night-school. And the 'coloured
computers' unofficial
supervisor Dorothy Vaughan
who has the foresight
to teach herself a new computing language when NASA invests in an
IBM. She actually invents a job not only for herself but her entire
team. If Civil Rights protesters outside are facing dogs, water
cannons and live rounds, she too displays courage in the face of
career death when she insists 'we come together or not at all'.
The
pay-load here is that this mind-boggling story
is TRUE. I've been researching a book about the
Space Race for some years now and I'd come across one article about
one of these pioneering
women. So I was blown away
by the sight of that room full of 'coloured computers' and how
integrated these women were into the NASA story. How on
earth did they get access to colleges and university degrees? We
glimpse in the film the support of their community and families
helping power their journeys and they way the women looked out for
each other within the corridors of NASA. This is a key theme of the
book
by Margot Lee Shetterly
which inspired the film. Likewise this feel-good vehicle fresh out of Hollywood gains real buoyancy from
warm-hearted performances by actresses Taraji
P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe.
But beyond the 'Hidden
Figures', we are clearly
supposed to be rooting for the US of A and Kennedy's project
of beating the Commies to the Moon. Kevin Costner's
earnest gum-chewing chief has a big speech about how the winners of
the race get to make the rules for what happens in space. There's an
implication that NASA is strictly about the science where the Ruskies
are all about spying and nuclear war-heads. And so here comes JohnGlenn, a blonde cowboy in silver-suit, flashing smiles straight out
of a 1960's toothpaste advert. Gagarin by comparison is an
uncomfortable historical footnote that cranks up the narrative
pressure.
No
matter that this is a country which treats its black citizens as
untouchables, a point made by the separate 'coloured coffee pot'
Katherine's white-male colleagues introduce into the Space
Task Group room. (A lovely
supporting role here for The
Big Bang Theory's Jim
Parsons as the sour-faced Head Engineer.)
Yes, there is grit too in the tank along with a ton of sugar to fuel
the combustion needed. But it could certainly have explored more
the racism within and without NASA. The movie's story arc
gives the impression that once Kevin Costner has wrestled the
'Coloured Bathroom' sign down with a hammer (an entirely fictional
scene), discrimination was dumped in the bin for good.
Overall
the relentless upwards trajectory of the narrative sweeps away any
close interrogation of that history. Pharell Williams
has spoken of the challenge to match the 'ascension'
of the women and his poppy soundtrack does just that. It propels our
emotions bang on target. My advice is – don't fight it. Strap
yourself in and relish the G-forces of optimism and indignation. Personally I enjoyed the ride so much I
postponed a comfort break indefinitely in sympathy with Katherine. And
that's gotta be worth a few stars in any review.
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