HIDDEN FIGURES is a gentle take on a crucial story. Why do more people not know the names Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson? All three were key figures in the Space Race and remarkable, nigh-on-miraculous in their achievements for the time they were working in as black women. The last part of that sentence answered that question, but it’s well past the time for that to change. Though the depicted prejudice the trio face isn’t aggressive, in a lot of ways the passive-agressive segregated work environment and condescending treatment of brilliant women comes off as more offensive, more malicious. Comparisons with THE RIGHT STUFF are generally avoided despite covering many of the same events simply by exploring them from a different, even more compelling angle, and this faultless cast (especially Taraji P Henson as Johnson) makes you forgive certain dramatic license when the story being told is this inspiring. SSP