As we all know, Hollywood has a diversity problem which has been thrust into bright white lights of public opinion right now. As such, the arrival of Hidden Treasures could not be more fortuitous. Telling of a little-known piece of American history, this “based on a true story” drama/comedy from director Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent) tells of three African-American women in the 1960’s who had to face not just one, but two different prejudices when they were hired by NASA to assist in their early space program.
Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe star as the mathematically gifted women who helped Kevin Costner and Kirsten Dunst’s NASA engineers to send astronaut John Glenn on his historic orbit of the Earth. And while “NASA didn’t give a crap what gender you were or what race you were, [because] if you could do the math, you were valuable” as the director put it, that doesn’t mean the rest of the folks these ladies had to work with with saw it that way.
Not that it apparently got them down though, as Melfi seemingly eschews the very soppy angle the material could have taken to give us a really upbeat story that should put a smile on your face, even if the maths goes above your head.
Check out the trailer below.
Hidden Treasures also stars Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, and Glen Powell. It is scheduled for release on January 13, 2017.
Last Updated: August 17, 2016