Academia and most intellectual pursuits are often exclusive and reserved for the brightest minds. Despite interest in human brain power, its doors are often closed to women and people of color. The new film Hidden Figures, starring Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, and Janelle Monae, tells the story of  Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, three brilliant African American women who served as the brains for the NASA operation which launched John Glenn into orbit. Set in the 1950s and ‘60s, the movie deals with not only the space race with the Soviet Union that changed the world but with underlying themes of race and gender as the women try to balance their brilliance and intellect with the social barriers placed on them at work.

Hidden Figures is a meaningful movie not only in the heartwarming story it tells but also in the cast. All three leads are black women, something that even now is an achievement as box office movies are often lacking in diversity. Henson, who plays Katherine Johnson, celebrated the fact that the film had done better than the highly anticipated Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. She posted a touching message on her Instagram account, saying how after continuously being told that “Black women can’t open films domestically or internationally” throughout her decades-long career, she and her costars proved the naysayers wrong. That in itself is a barrier broken and an achievement that should be celebrated.

One of the stand out moments of the entire film is the exchange between Mary Jackson, played by Monae, and one of the engineers on the mission. He asks her, “If you had been a white male, would you have wished to be an engineer?’’ In return, she says, “No Sir, because I’d already be one.” In that moment, the audience can feel the tenacity of the women and how nothing was going to get in the way of them being successful in their field.

Overall, Hidden Figures is a feel-good movie. The real life women are finally given the recognition that they deserve. And throughout the film, the audience is treated to a story all about breaking barriers and a group of young mathematicians who through their toughness, intelligence, and work ethic paved the way for the scientists and mathematicians of color after them.