First Night: HIDDEN FIGURES
On January 13th 2017, some students from our school, including myself, went to the “Zoo Palast”, together with Mrs. Kriener. We had been invited by the American Embassy to the first showing of the movie “Hidden Figures“. Instead of outgoing American ambassador, John B. Emerson, who had intended to give a short introduction and say a few words of farewell, Deputy Chief of Mission, Kent Logsdon, welcomed us and let us in on the film´s plot. He told us that once the movie had been shot it was first shown to the Obamas in the White House Cinema. Michelle Obama had then pointed out how important the message of the film was, especially for women, and especially for girls and women of colour.
The movie is based on a true story – an inspiring and emotional biographical drama that tells the story of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, three African-American mathematicians (then called “computers”), who worked for NASA and helped provide all the mathematical knowledge needed for John Glenn to be the first American to orbit the earth in a spaceship in 1962.
The movie impressively portrays the racial and gender discrimination the three women had to face in the US of the early sixties. It shows how they dealt with it and how they managed to overcome it their way. The plot also includes topics like family, friendship and love. Thus, the movie is highly educating (teaching history) and emotional and entertaining at the same time.
I would definitely recommend the film and I’m happy to have had the opportunity of watching it at its first night in Berlin. Thank you for the invitation!
Adriana Stier, 12th grade