Hidden Figures is a feel-good film based on the true story of three African American women and the part they played in NASA during 1961. Despite battling sexism and racism, these female math prodigies make a name for themselves, not just in the space race, but in a world where men were still calling the shots.

The main character, Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) and her two friends Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) are known as “computers,” individuals who did difficult mathematical equations or NASA in the days before computers. When opportunity knocks, they are challenged to help change America and the great space race, getting astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) into space.

Real-life character Mary Jackson was the first black female engineer for NASA, while Dorothy Vaughan was the first African American manager for NASA. Though often underestimated by the people around them, these women crossed many barriers to prove that the color of your skin does not determine who you are.

As the movie begins, we learn that those who did the mathematical computing for NASA were often African American women who had to do their work in a separate building due to Virginia’s segregation laws. Katherine soon gains a place in a small task group whose mission is to get Glenn into space, but then realizes that she is frowned upon as soon as she walks into the room full of white men. To make things worse, the building has no “colored” bathrooms, so Katherine has to walk a mile and a half away to use the bathroom, a scene which symbolizes the lengths blacks had to go to during this period in history.

Every movie needs some romance, and Hidden Figures supplies it. Katherine is a widow with three kids until Jim Johnson (Mahershala Ali) is seen eyeing her at a church sermon. They don’t hit it off right away, partly because Jim doubts her brains and only sees her for her beauty at first. How their relationship develops reminds viewers of the importance of love and loyalty in life.

Overall, Hidden Figures is a great film for anyone who loves independent films with a little bit of romance and historical accuracy. What makes this movie stand out so much is that it does not focus on just one person, but rather on the lives of three brave women who set the tone for the rest of American history.