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Before Ticket to Ride, before Santa Fe Rails, before Union Pacific – yet after Acquire – there...

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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race in Books

Oct 27, 2017 (Updated Oct 27, 2017)

So much more than the film

I'm so glad that I watched the film first, otherwise it would have been a total disappointment. The book is extensive, and the story of the film seems quite different to the truth. The bare bones are the same: a trio of remarkable women broke boundaries in both gender and race to be part of one of the most historic events in US and even world history - the space race.

Before John Glenn made it to space, a group of professionals worked as ‘Human Computers’, calculating the flight paths by hand that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women. Forget Silicon Valley's misogynistic climate - women were the original engineers and mathematicians.

The book is awash with interesting stories of extraordinary people working in a time of segregation and all pervasive racism. It has multiple layers that delve into each character, and gives a comprehensive context into these women's lives. It basically fills in the gaps of the film, but also changes the timeline considerably as Katherine Johnson was much younger than her colleague Dorothy Vaughan. Nevertheless, an extraordinary read and a great tribute to these invisible women.

Kudos

Sarah (7800 KP) rated Flight (2012) in Movies

Oct 13, 2018

Flight (2012)

2012 | Drama, Mystery

7.3

(11 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Watchable but very lacking

For a film by Robert Zemeckis, I was expecting something with a lot more heart and a little less predictable.

The problem with this film is that the main character Whip isn’t particularly likeable. Whilst Denzel Washington does his best and does bring some odd moments of likeability, it’s very difficult to connect with this film when Whip is not a very good person. Of course everything turns out the way you’d expect from the outset but this just makes for a bit of a dull watch. Kelly Reilly is sorely underused and her character just seems to have been thrown in a little haphazardly, making little of her and her journey. The visual effects of the crash itself are very good and the soundtrack is great, although it does throw back a little too much to Forrest Gump. The whole film drags and does get a little talky and dull. It also seems to be putting out a strange message about the effects of alcoholism, and yet how a pilot saved a flight whilst he was drunk and high.... very odd.

It’s the type of film you’d watch once and it’s bearable enough to watch to the end, but not one you’d go out of your way to watch again.