Hidden Figures

14, 15...

16, prime...

18, prime...

20...

21...

22, prime...

West Virginia Collegiate Institute

is the best school for Negros in the state.

It's the only school past the eighth grade

anywhere near here.

Isosceles.

Scalene.

Equilateral.

Rhombus.

Trapezoid.

Katherine's in the sixth grade.

They want to take her early.

Tetrahedron.

Dodecahedron.

They're offering a full scholarship.

All you have to do is get there.

Ms. Coleman...

why don't you solve the equation on the board?

We took up a collection

amongst the teachers and such.

It's not a lot...

but it's enough to help get you settled in.

That's more than kind, Ms. Sumner.

If the product of two terms

is zero then common sense says

at least one of the two terms has to be zero to start with.

So if you move all the terms over to one side,

you can put the quadratics into a form

that can be factored...

allowing that side of the equation

to equal zero.

Once you've done that, it's pretty straightforward

from there.

In all my years of teaching...

I've never seen a mind like the one your daughter has.

Katherine!

Hurry on now, love.

You have to go.

Let Mama tuck you in.

You have to see what she becomes.

Okay, try to turn it over now.

Katherine?

Mary!

Somebody!

Katherine!

Quit staring off into space and turn the damn car over.

I got it.

I'm not deaf.

I wonder sometimes.

Here it goes.

Yeah, it's the starter.

That is definitely the starter.

This starter is starting to make us late.

We are all gonna end up unemployed...

riding around in this pile of junk to work every day.

You're welcome to walk the 16 miles.

Or sit in the back of the bus. (CHUCKLES)

I won't do neither.

I'll hitchhike.

Girls.

No crime in a broken-down car.

No crime being Negro neither.

Button it up, Mary.

Nobody wants to go to jail behind your mouth.

I'll do my best, sugar.

Not a great place for three of y'all be having car trouble.

We didn't pick the place, Officer. It picked us.

You being disrespectful?

No, sir.

You have identification on you?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

We're just on our way to work...

at Langley.

NASA, sir.

We do a great deal of the calculating.

Getting our rockets into space.

All three of you? Yes, sir.

Yes, Officer.

NASA.

Now that's something.

I had no idea they hired...

There are quite a few women working in the space program.

Damn Russians are watching us right now.

Sputniks.

You girls ever meet those astronauts?

Mercury Seven?

Absolutely.

Uh, yes, sir. We work with those gentlemen all the time.

Those boys are the best we got. I'm sure of that.

Yeah. Yeah.

We gotta get a man up there before the commies do.

Yes. Absolutely.

Whole damn country's counting on them.

That's for certain.

Hard being of service broken down

on the side of the road, though.

Right, right.

Well, do y'all need a tow or something?

No, thank you, Officer. I think I got it.

Just give me my...

Just need to bypass the starter.

She's good at this stuff.

Whoo! Attagirl.

We're all set.

Well, hell, least I can do is give y'all an escort.

I imagine you're running late to work.

No, sir. We wouldn't wanna bother you.

That would be wonderful, Officer.

Thank you so much, sir.

Follow me.

I'm driving.

Hurry up, Dorothy, before he changes his mind.

We're coming. Hold your horses.

Yes! Whoa, slow down, Mary!

Mary, slow down! You're too close!

Be quiet. He said to follow him.

He didn't mean up his behind!

Dear Lord, I don't even know where to begin!

Oh, I'll tell you where to begin.

Three Negro women are chasing a white police officer

down the highway in Hampton, Virginia...

1961.

Ladies, that there is a God-ordained miracle.

And, tomorrow, I'm riding the bus.

I'm moving over

I'm on a sidewalk

I'm going over

(OVER RADIO) Lift off is good. Trajectory is stable.

Show me.

No, exactly.

40.349110 degrees North.

(IN ENGLISH) Ascent angle 46. 56.

Approaching 7,400 miles per hour.

118 seconds.

Boosters have disengaged.

Second stage success.

(SPEAKING ENGLISH) Korabl-Sputnik 4 is orbital.

Orbital entry is established.

Russian orbital entry is established.

Jim Webb.

Yes, Mr. President.

We certainly are, sir.

Uh, it looks like they've achieved

at least one orbit, maybe two.

Chernushka is ready to go again.

So is our comrade, Ivan, a brave space traveler.

We have proven life can be sustained in space.

Now we will be first to send a human.

A damn dog and a damn mannequin.

And then, a 1.6 megaton RDS-37 thermonuclear warhead...

drops down in the middle of Des Moines.

Well, that's a pretty big jump, sir.

What?

Just that... Who the hell is he?

Paul Stafford, our lead engineer, Mr. Webb.

I think what he meant to say...

is that speculation, at least on our side of the equation...

by definition can be...

just a little dangerous.

Dangerous?

You know what's dangerous, Mr. Stafford?

Inaction and indecision.

The Russians have a spy satellite

lapping the planet,

taking pictures of God knows what!

The President is demanding an immediate response.

No more delay. Alan Shepard, John Glenn,

your uncle Bob, it doesn't matter.

Get us up there, Harrison.

We can't justify a space program

that doesn't put anything in space.

How'd that feel in there, Paul?

You think you enlightened the administrator?

Hmm?

No, he didn't look enlightened to me.

He look enlightened to you, Sam?

Not particularly.

And just so you know,

he's not wrong about what he said in there.

You know that, right?

Because now that they can get up there,

a bomb will follow.

It's what happens to all our good ideas.

I imagine theirs too. Where's...

Where's the machine?

Any day now, Mr. Harrison.

Any day now. Yes, sir.

What's it called? The initials.

The IBM.

International Business Machines.

Space is a business. (CHUCKLES)

I need a mathematician.

I'll put in another request, sir.

"Another request." Jesus Christ.

We don't have a single person in this entire building