By Florian Barnett-Trier, Badis Azouni, Kamaal Jhumra, and Emin Abasov (Y12)
Directed by Theodore Melfi, and adapted from the book Hidden Figures, which is further based on a true story, of three African-American women working in NASA during the early 1960s when the Jim Crow laws were still in place. This film aimed to convey the message of racism (and sexism) that people of color faced during these times, yet despite the oppression, they became the backbone of NASA’s stage to launch an astronaut into space during the ongoing space war with Russia.
The film follows three key mathematicians: Katherine Johnson, our main lead, who had the task of calculating space flight trajectories with the goal of securing a successful orbit and landing for an astronaut. Dorothy Vaughan was in charge of the African-American women’s group at NASA. She realises that her job’s future might be at stake due to the advancement of technology and calculators, and therefore sets out with the goal of learning how to program, completely independently, and eventually teaches her entire group as well, to not fall behind. Mary Jackson, who strives to be an aerospace engineer, is faced with the issue of not being allowed to partake in any classes due to the Jim Crow laws. Because of this, she decides to take the initiative and bring the case to court, where she successfully convinced the judge to let her take night classes, and eventually become an engineer.
The movie does an excellent job at demonstrating all the struggles that these African-American women face during their accomplishments; Katherine and Dorothy’s storylines aim to showcase the dehumanization and failure of recognition which many people of color faced at the time – for example, Katherine is constantly referred to as a calculator, and is not allowed to receive data which could be seen as confidential. Her building has no “colored bathroom”, leading to her taking substantial “breaks” whilst she jogs to a bathroom many miles away. Dorothy is unrecognized for her role, where she is not properly given a promotion for her efforts, despite her workload being the same as that of a supervisor. On the other hand, Mary’s storyline aims to showcase how African-Americans’ potential is rooted in unavailable opportunities, such as not being able to study at any engineering universities, as they are white-only. These aspects excellently highlight the racist connotations that society had been through during the 1960s.
Hidden figures also served to emphasize the achievements of all three women, conveying their impact on the world and the contributions they made despite these rough conditions. Each figure became the first of their kind to achieve their goal, and the movie does an excellent job at not only portraying the individual achievements but also the recognition and appraisal from surrounding characters who directly opposed them throughout, showcasing their development.
From a cinematic perspective, the film understands how to portray scenes and juggles our three main storylines with fluidity. It conveys the emotions of characters through their actions and interactions, for example, when introducing the astronaut John Glenn, whilst Katherine and Dorothy do not compliment him due to the oppression they have faced, Mary, in fact, does, explaining the hypocrisy of being racist. The visuals of the film perfectly encapsulate the vibes of the 1960s, whilst the fast-paced editing highlights the tension the movie holds. The performances of the cast work in unison with each other to pull the audience in and make it seem as real as possible, making characters lovable and extremely hateable at the same time.
The music is also composed by Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams and Benjamin Wallfisch, which at times conveys the hectic and stressful nature of scenes, reflecting the 1960s cultural atmosphere, while also at times it conveys the upbeat and emotionally resolutionistic nature of certain scenes, especially towards the end of the movie, which looks forward in a new light.
This film gives us significant cause for reflection, even within our own, privileged La Chaighteneraie community. This film tackles the issue of racial discrimination, in this case, the systematic oppression of black women in the USA in the 1960s. More than just segregating their workplace, this film tells the story of how the key roles they played in NASA missions and the brilliant innovations they pioneered were consistently overlooked and disregarded as a direct result of their race. The film makes this visible not through dialogue, but through physical space, whether it be a segregated bathroom across an entire campus, a separate coffee pot placed beside Katherine’s desk, or a computing unit kept deliberately out of sight. These seemingly insignificant. The system was not accidentally unfair; it was architecturally designed to make these women invisible. And yet, Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary do not accept that. As barriers begin to break, they step forward rather than back, paving the way for a more equitable future.
What makes this film hit differently is that none of these women waits for permission. Dorothy teaches herself FORTRAN from a library book she technically had no right to borrow, then turns around and teaches her entire team. Mary takes her case to an actual court to earn the right to attend a white school at night. Katherine demands to be in the briefing room. All of this serves as an example that these are people using education and courage the same way Ecolint asks us to, and it is worth sitting with the fact that for them, those same things we are handed freely were things worth going to court for.
That is really the point of watching a film like this here, in a private school, in Switzerland, one of the safest and most equal places on earth. It is easy to forget that what feels completely normal to us is still out of reach for most of the world. Katherine Johnson died in 2020. This is not ancient history, as it would be easy to fall into the trap of believing that. The gaps in representation, access to education, and basic institutional fairness that this film is about are still measurably real today. Ecolint’s whole mission is about having the courage and capacity to create a just and joyful tomorrow, but that only means something if we actually reckon with how unjust today still is for a lot of people outside this bubble.