In a world where every storyline is recreated again and again, how do you make another historical movie that can pack a punch? One that can hold out against the test of time? You make a movie like Hidden Figures.  

Emotional payoff - one trillion billion percent. Connection to the characters - can one of them please be my best friend? Inspiring - let me just take this dusty diploma off my shelf and see what I can do with it. 

If it wasn’t for the fact that I was watching this movie on an airplane, I probably would have been screaming and cheering. It was bad enough that I had to keep the excited bouncing to a minimum, because you know, everyone magically gets cranky on a flight. All of their movie links should have broken so they would have been forced to watch Hidden Figures. Maybe that would have changed their mood. 

I know you’ve heard me whine and complain about emotional payoffs before, but this is why. Here is the proof that my stone cold heart can feel. Just kidding… everyone will tell you the exact opposite. I cry over everything, which is why not feeling something in a supposed emotional movie is not a good thing. Warning Huston… we have a real problem. But when Harrison knocked the colored bathroom sign down in Hidden Figures, I wanted to ball. It was amazing. I hope with all my heart that the version in real life did the same thing. If not, he better appreciate what the movie industry just did for him. 

Here is the amazing thing about Hidden Figures - it was simple. The points were clear, the scenes to the point, and the introductions to the pieces perfectly timed. In the first five minutes I knew who those three ladies were. I get that there aren’t rules to writing a movie and molds should be broken, but sometimes, writing a good movie doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel. It doesn’t mean going over the top. It’s about getting to the point in the simplest way. 

Take my pens world, I want to go back into engineering. 

If only the world still worked like that. 

And if women were treated fairly. 

But Kait, it’s 2020. They can’t still be treated like Katherine. I graduated from engineering five years ago and I dealt with multiple sexist scenarios. So yes, it still exists. The world isn’t great my friends. 

Which is why Hidden Figures is so important for our world. They could have easily messed up the message. Messed up those emotional moments that get people off the couch. But they didn’t because they did the most important thing. They kept it clear and concise. They got their point and message across. That’s all screenwriters need to be the most worried about - is the audience going to understand what they’re selling?

What else can I say? I beat myself up for not seeing Hidden Figures a lot sooner. It took a plane flight for me to finally sit down. Don’t be the same way. Just watch it. I’m sure you won’t regret the two hours. And you never know, maybe a little hope might be what you need to get through COVID-19. I mean, these ladies did send a rocket into space. Let’s all get a little creative with our situation. 

Oh, and if I didn’t make myself clear earlier, screenwriters, that’s the way to start a movie. 

All in all, watcher, writer, man, woman, or child, I think everyone will enjoy Hidden Figures. 

Happy Watching

Love Kait