PART 3: MODEL QUESTION 4 (Movie Review)
A local magazine is looking for individuals to send in their movie reviews. Write a review on
a movie that you have watched recently.
Movie Review
• Name of the movie and its synopsis
• Analysis of the movie (themes, characters that you like, storyline, moral values etc)
• What is your opinion about the movie? Will you recommend this movie?
Send your review to us and stand a chance to be featured in our magazine!
Hidden Figures Movie Review
By Tesvor Ram
The movie, Hidden Figures (2016), not only serves as an item of good entertainment,
but is also admirable in depicting the scientific changes in the USA in the 1960s, the social life
issues of that era, and differences that existed in the country, especially among African-
Americans.
The movie centers around the lives of three women: Katherine Johnson, who is played
by movie star Taraji P. Henson; Mary Jackson, who is played by Janelle Monáe; and finally,
Dorothy Vaughan, as the mathematician portrayed by Octavia Spencer. In the movie, these
three characters of African-American backgrounds play vital roles in society through their
contributions while working at NASA towards the successful launch of a spaceship into orbit.
As an informative movie, it shows the condition of African-Americans among the
wider USA community and some of the issues they faced. These include gender imbalances,
as well as racial discriminations. From a historical perspective, the film shows a depiction of
the Jim Crow rule, which created ideologies of segregation where some buildings and facility
spaces are separated to ensure that races were kept apart.
The impact of such a rule is seen when Mary Jackson in facing opposition due to her
taking a course in physics at the graduate-level. There is also a depiction of racial
discrimination where there are separate toilets for white people and for colored people.
Additionally, the film depicts differences in the social treatment of community members
among various ethnic groups.
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As seen in the movie, at the Langley Campus at NASA, even if African-Americans and
white citizens work within the same vicinity, they are segregated. The African-Americans are
shown using separate dining facilities and bathrooms. This can be seen when Katherine
Johnson is seen running from her office just to visit the washrooms, sometimes even in the
rain.
The movie, Hidden Figures, also shows the social differences between men and
women in American history. There is a sense of prejudice and workplace bias towards women
from their fellow men counterparts. One scene from the movie depicts the character,
Katherine Johnson, who is skilled in computing and at explaining information to the board,
yet sidelined and prevented from being among the men by Paul Stanford, a lead engineer on
the project. Rather, she is forced to relinquish her presentation files to men, as opposed to
making the presentation herself. However, with changes and acceptance, Katherine is finally
allowed to present, especially with the support of Al Harrison.
The movie also shows the importance and impact that the three women played in
shaping the subsequent events at NASA, and in shaping the whole community. Through
power and determination, the women act as motivators for other women, especially African-
American women. In the film, Dorothy works with other white women and commanding
several computers, however she is bypassed for upcoming promotions within the company
for the role of supervisor. Fellow co-workers and her boss also treat Dorothy maliciously.
However, with perseverance, she encourages fellow African-American women to take up
programming lessons as a way of preparing themselves for the changes in computing.
I think the movie does an excellent job in portraying past issues faced by African-
Americans, explaining scientific changes in USA, and in creating a vivid picture of the social
differences in gender in the 1960s. I highly recommend this movie because there are so many
things that we can learn from the dramatic prejudice and issues undertaken by these three
women.
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