We shouldn't hear many #OscarsSoWhite complaints next month. While I have yet to check out Moonlight, Fences, or Loving, they get enough positive press outside the Black community to suggest a few nominations at least. But only HF presents a focus on Black women in particular, facing sexism as well as racism.
Specifically, they're three NASA employees in the early '60s, more united than the other Black women in their position if only because they ride to work in the same lemon. The one with the most screen time is Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), whose mad math skills get a room full of White men to rely on her to check vital calculations. Despite exhaustion, she is receptive to the hints from everyone, including her young daughters, that she should hook up with one Col. Jim Johnson (Mahershala Ali). Meanwhile, Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) has been pulling her weight as an unofficial supervisor in the "colored" female mathematician division without the benefits; when NASA finally installs a room-sized computer, she takes the initiative in learning how it works, not just to help NASA but to avoid layoffs. Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) doesn't appear to make any great contributions to the space race in the course of the film, but she does pursue an engineering education and career -- in a Virginia that does not respect Brown v. Board of Education.
Most prominent among the White characters is Director Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), a hard man but, to his credit, one of the least evidently racist. At worst, he simply doesn't think about the trials and tribulations of a Black woman. Of course, he may be taking his job too seriously to let details like color stand in the way of a successful launch. If any White character looks even nobler, albeit more casual, it's John Glenn (Glen Powell). Too bad the real guy didn't quite get to see him in action.
More problematic are mathematician Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons, playing a nerdy jerk as usual), who respects Katherine only when she leaves him no choice; and manager Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst), who acts like all of Dorothy's problems are out of her hands. I appreciate that most of the segregation-era racism herein is relatively subtle, as to be expected of people who don't want to admit it even to themselves. (I'm still working thru my own biases, truth be told.) I didn't know that even library sections were segregated. What were they afraid of?
But enough about the supporting cast; what do I think of the protagonists? Short answer: excellent. Black female stars are rare enough; those who also make good role models (particularly for geeks) are golden. It helps that the script gives them all the best lines. Ordinarily, I'm not crazy about the trope of sassy Black women, but this sass has smarts. And the acting chops to back it up.
Currently, IMDb lists several anachronisms and factual errors but nothing that really changes the story. I certainly hope that all three women were as accomplished as claimed.
If I have one complaint, it's that certain aspects are jarring. Part of that comes inevitably from the passage of time: Nobody today calls a person a "computer" or a computer an "IBM." Part of it stems from my recognition of TV actors (Sheldon Cooper? Cottonmouth?). Less excusable is producer Pharrell Williams frequently using his own modern songs instead of contemporary gems.
My Meetup group clapped for HF, as did I. I advise my parents to go ahead with their plan to see it. You too, if you like any of the elements described above.
Terrific film, with women talking together about math and their NASA jobs more than about men, and with Black women in major roles rather than as sidekicks, in a story that ultimately sees them able to move forward rather than succumb to tragedy. Refreshing.
ReplyDelete