We're just going to pretend it hasn't been almost a year since my last review. Ok. Cool.
I've seen Hidden Figures twice now, in the hopes of getting my feelings about it in order.
First of all, IT'S AMAZING STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND GO SEE IT. THEN WATCH IT AGAIN. I can't begin to count the ways it's great. I like all things '60s, so the costumes were amazing (wait till I finally write about Jackie....). The cinematography was well done. The incorporation of old television footage with the rest of the movie was really well done and at times I wasn't sure whether we were seeing actual footage from the various launches or something shot for the film (some things were obvious. Actual JFK making speeches was pretty clear for instance).
Then we get into the acting. It was great. I loved the three women. If they don't all wind up with lots of awards or at least nominations I will be very surprised. Also it could just be me (but for the record I haven't watched it since August so it's not just my zone) but the three of them reminded me of the sisters from Charmed. They kind of matched up really well too. Dorothy is Prue, Katherine is Piper, Mary is Phoebe.
So this movie takes place in 1961, so segregation. There's a whole point of Katherine having to run a quarter mile across campus just to find a colored women's bathroom. Mary wants to be an engineer and has to deal with taking classes in a segregated high school. Dorothy wants a book on computer programming but it's in the white section of the library.
And it's pretty obvious so the relevance will be obvious even to the most obtuse and I think people might actually be forced to confront their own privilege after seeing this (note: I *think.* The second time I saw it people applauded the big moments and the theater was primarily white, so that's a good thing). One of the particularly relevant and especially sad moments has to be right at the beginning (there's a shortened version of this scene in the trailer). The women are on the side of the road fixing their car when a police car pulls up. The three of them immediately put on very passive faces and Mary gets warned by the other two that she has to be polite to the cop. The cop asks them for ID. The style of the clothes, cars, and hair is all that's dated about this scene. Not the policeman's attitude or the women's fear or care.
It's not all sad though (at least from my perspective). The big boss man announces there will be no more colored bathrooms and everyone should just use whatever is convenient (with a few great lines by the way). He clearly thinks that Katherine could have told him right from the start that there wasn't a bathroom she could use and when he realizes she doesn't have a restroom, you can see him start to figure out white privilege is a thing, but after that scene with the cop in the beginning, you as the audience actually understand why she doesn't make a fuss and just sprints.
And my final moment of "oh wow that's beautiful." The white woman who gives out the assignments to the women approaches Dorothy and tells her that she doesn't have anything against "ya'll" (in context it's pretty clear she's saying she isn't racist). Dorothy kind of smiles sadly at her and says, "I know. I know you probably believe that." There isn't even anything I can add to that. Because to quote Avenue Q, "everyone's a little bit racist" (although wow that song did not age well...). We can be convinced we're not but privilege is privilege and if you're not thinking about it you're probably not stopping the world from being racist and when the world is this bad, that's kind of the same thing.
Oh and it passed the Bechtel Test right off the bat.
***obligatory special shout out to the bartender who gives me really good drinks with way too many cherries and as of last night with my second viewing of this movie is the official cherry champion, holding the record of 12 cherries please don't ask me how this became a thing I really have no idea***
I've seen Hidden Figures twice now, in the hopes of getting my feelings about it in order.
First of all, IT'S AMAZING STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND GO SEE IT. THEN WATCH IT AGAIN. I can't begin to count the ways it's great. I like all things '60s, so the costumes were amazing (wait till I finally write about Jackie....). The cinematography was well done. The incorporation of old television footage with the rest of the movie was really well done and at times I wasn't sure whether we were seeing actual footage from the various launches or something shot for the film (some things were obvious. Actual JFK making speeches was pretty clear for instance).
Then we get into the acting. It was great. I loved the three women. If they don't all wind up with lots of awards or at least nominations I will be very surprised. Also it could just be me (but for the record I haven't watched it since August so it's not just my zone) but the three of them reminded me of the sisters from Charmed. They kind of matched up really well too. Dorothy is Prue, Katherine is Piper, Mary is Phoebe.
So this movie takes place in 1961, so segregation. There's a whole point of Katherine having to run a quarter mile across campus just to find a colored women's bathroom. Mary wants to be an engineer and has to deal with taking classes in a segregated high school. Dorothy wants a book on computer programming but it's in the white section of the library.
And it's pretty obvious so the relevance will be obvious even to the most obtuse and I think people might actually be forced to confront their own privilege after seeing this (note: I *think.* The second time I saw it people applauded the big moments and the theater was primarily white, so that's a good thing). One of the particularly relevant and especially sad moments has to be right at the beginning (there's a shortened version of this scene in the trailer). The women are on the side of the road fixing their car when a police car pulls up. The three of them immediately put on very passive faces and Mary gets warned by the other two that she has to be polite to the cop. The cop asks them for ID. The style of the clothes, cars, and hair is all that's dated about this scene. Not the policeman's attitude or the women's fear or care.
It's not all sad though (at least from my perspective). The big boss man announces there will be no more colored bathrooms and everyone should just use whatever is convenient (with a few great lines by the way). He clearly thinks that Katherine could have told him right from the start that there wasn't a bathroom she could use and when he realizes she doesn't have a restroom, you can see him start to figure out white privilege is a thing, but after that scene with the cop in the beginning, you as the audience actually understand why she doesn't make a fuss and just sprints.
And my final moment of "oh wow that's beautiful." The white woman who gives out the assignments to the women approaches Dorothy and tells her that she doesn't have anything against "ya'll" (in context it's pretty clear she's saying she isn't racist). Dorothy kind of smiles sadly at her and says, "I know. I know you probably believe that." There isn't even anything I can add to that. Because to quote Avenue Q, "everyone's a little bit racist" (although wow that song did not age well...). We can be convinced we're not but privilege is privilege and if you're not thinking about it you're probably not stopping the world from being racist and when the world is this bad, that's kind of the same thing.
Oh and it passed the Bechtel Test right off the bat.
***obligatory special shout out to the bartender who gives me really good drinks with way too many cherries and as of last night with my second viewing of this movie is the official cherry champion, holding the record of 12 cherries please don't ask me how this became a thing I really have no idea***
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