Movie Review: HIDDEN FIGURES (2017) A

I worked as an engineer on the United States Space Programs starting in1965.  I also visited the NASA Langley facility in the late 1960's.  I found many aspects of the movie stereotypical.  I had first hand knowledge of the work that went on at NASA and also work performed by the manufacturers of the spacecrafts  to compete with Russia during the early 1960's

Admittedly , I didn't see a black person's face in all the years on the program, however, I thought it was totally unnecessary for the film to continually show the black women running to the rest room.  Also the technology seemed off base.  Analytic Geometry is a basic course that every engineer would have known . . . not only the black women.  Trajectories of missiles was basic knowledge to all experts in the industry in that time frame. Also there were many many people that could program in FORTRAN.  A lot of technical stuff was just not believable and it diminished the movie . . . in my eyes.

From the human standpoint, however, It showed how far we have come in race relations in the 60 or so years since we first orbited the earth. I believe the review that follows is somewhat exaggerated.

From Rotten Tomatoes:  HIDDEN FIGURES is the incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle MoUnitednáe)-brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation's confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.