Dinner
and a Movie
By
Steve Herte
Hidden
Figures (20th
Century Fox, 2016) - Director: Theodore Melfi. Writers: Theodore
Melfi & Alison Schroeder (s/p). Margot Lee Shetterly (book).
Stars: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin
Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge,
Glen Powell, Kimberly Quinn, Olek Krupa, Kurt Krause, Ken Strunk,
Lidia Jewett, & Donna Biscoe. Color, Rated PG, 127 minutes.
A superb cast,
brilliant directing and scripting make this uplifting film one to
catch, as its two hours and seven minutes go by in a flash.
The year is 1961 in
Langley Research Center in a still segregated Virginia (the property
was originally a plantation). The Russians have launched four
versions of Sputnik and America is desperately playing catch-up. NASA
is recruiting the finest minds as “human computers” to get a man
into orbit before the Russians.
Enter three young
black women, Katherine Johnson (Henson) a widow whose husband died of
a brain tumor and mother of three daughters, Dorothy Vaughan
(Spencer) a single mother with two sons, and Mary Jackson (Monáe)
wife of Levi Jackson (Hodge) and mother of one son and a daughter.
They join a group of about 30 other talented black women working in
the west wing at Langley, computing and checking figures that come
from the all-white, all-male east wing.
Katherine is a
prodigy whose love of numbers and abilities with analytic geometry
soon get her transferred to the east wing where she not only has to
prove her superiority in deciphering and factoring, but she has to
deal with being the only black woman in the building other than the
custodial staff. Al Harrison (Costner), the director of the Space
Task Group and her boss, soon recognizes her capability and sets her
to the task of checking the figures of Paul Stafford (Parsons), his
number one mathematician. Despite the excessive redaction Paul makes
on his work, Katherine correctly concludes that the Atlas rocket is
better to put a man into orbit than the one used to put Alan Shepard
into low-Earth orbit. The pressure increases when the Russians launch
Yuri Gargarin as the first man in orbit.
Dorothy is a natural
leader and finds herself delegating the work assignments in the west
wing without the title of supervisor, no matter how she explains it
to her boss, Vivian Mitchell (Dunst). She learns about the IBM
mainframe being built at Langley and how it can put all of her ladies
out of a job. She “borrows” a book on Fortran programming from an
all-white library before being asked to leave, learns it and can
operate the mainframe before the the IBM Technicians can figure it
out. She also teaches the west wing ladies how to operate it.
Mary has the mind
and heart of an engineer. She also has the schooling credits to be
one, until NASA adds one more class at the last minute. “Every time
we get a chance to get ahead they move the finish line. Every time.”
She sighs. But Mary has the encouragement of her co-worker, Karl
Zielinski (Krupa), a Polish/Jewish man who is working on the design
of the Mercury capsule with her. She gets her case heard in court and
is granted permission to attend night classes at an all-white
engineering school.
Though Hidden
Figures is about higher mathematics, physics, and
engineering, it is never dry. Though it’s about segregation and
racism, it’s never oppressive. The dialogue and the sometimes
humorous lengths the three women go to get their work done keep the
forward motion of the film barreling ahead. For the life of me, I
don’t know how Taraji ran back and forth from the east to the west
wing in high heels (once in the rain) just to use the segregated
restroom while carrying an armload of paperwork. The three portrayals
are a delight to watch and their characters are true role models for
young girls.
Bring a box of
tissues. This film has multiple tender moments, most poignantly, Lt.
Colonel Jim Johnson’s (Ali) marriage proposal to Katherine. John
Glenn, convincingly portrayed by Glen Powell, relies on Katherine’s
figures before he will board Friendship 7. My favorite moments? When
Katherine uses Euler’s formula to calculate the reentry of
Friendship 7, we hear, “That’s ancient!” from Stafford. To
which Katherine replies, “But it works.” And when it takes
Katherine 45 minutes to race to the restroom across the compound and
back, Harrison takes a crowbar and removes the “Colored Women’s
Room” sign saying, “Here at NASA we all pee the same color!”
This is a very
special movie, to be seen by everyone. It gets all of its lessons
across cleanly and effectively, and gives us a peek not the history
we were never taught in school.
Rating: 5 out of
5 Martini glasses.
Henry’s End
44 Henry St.
Brooklyn Heights,
NY
Some think that in
order to be good, a restaurant must be expensive, luxurious, in a
posh location and impossible to get a reservation. I could go on and
on about the devastating faults of many such places. Though Henry’s
End doesn’t take reservations for parties under four, I’ve never
been turned away. It may look like a bricked-up hole-in-the-wall from
the outside with just its bright red neon scripted name in the
window, and confusing décor inside (some say it has none), but I’ve
never been more comfortable. The only thing close to the first
description is that the people of Brooklyn Heights consider their
neighborhood to be posh. No matter, for every time I go to Henry’s
End I’m greeted warmly, if not by Manager/Chef Mark Lahm, then by
one or more of the staff. They remember how I like my martini and
duplicate it each time. This is my version of Cheers.
This is why I make
it a point to start every New Year with a dinner at Henry’s End.
This year, I had two lovely ladies joining me for dinner, one of whom
has not experienced the remarkable cuisine and intimacy of the place.
We got a table almost halfway down the length of the restaurant,
between the makeshift nook that serves as a bar and the wine
dispensary.
October starts the
Annual Fall/Winter Game Festival at Henry’s End (even though, by
popular demand, certain dishes are on the menu year-round) and I was
eager to see which ones my dining companions would choose. Let’s
start with the appetizers.
The newly initiated
tried the Kangaroo Potstickers, which was more like tender ravioli
than dumplings and was served Japanese style with chives and
mushrooms and a soy dipping sauce. If you’ve never had kangaroo,
this is the place to try it: light in flavor, and the texture more
like pork.
My more adventurous
companion chose the Game Charcuterie Plate – country game pate,
wild boar belly, and rabbit sausage. Even though I was eyeing the
pate, I didn’t get a taste before it was gone. I’m guessing it
was really good.
I had gnocchi with
buffalo short rib ragout over mashed potatoes. It seems redundant to
have a pasta made from potatoes and then rest it on more potatoes but
this dish worked. The ragout infused the gnocchi with its savory
taste and the buffalo meat was juicy and tender. The mashed potatoes
were creamy and performed the part of an accent to the dish.
We ordered the Pan
Roasted Vegetables — corn on the cob, carrots, Brussels sprouts,
onions, baby eggplant and artichoke hearts with fresh herbs, polenta,
goat cheese and balsamic vinegar glaze for the table and enjoyed
every bite.
In the same order,
our neophyte chose the Salmon Moroccan – grilled salmon steak
topped with a spiced compound butter and served with mashed potatoes.
It was flaky and moist, lightly spiced, and, though I’m not a fan
of salmon, I liked it. The lady born under the sign of Aries, just
newly introduced to lobster, picked the Penne with Lobster Tomato
Cream, chunks of lobster in a brandy tomato cream sauce. It
looked fantastic.
I had the Blackbuck
Texas antelope with braised red cabbage in a juniper sauce, over
mashed potatoes. I’m very particular about mashed potatoes; if
they’re not right, I don’t eat them. But at Henry’s End. Mark
flavors them so that they’re irresistible. The antelope is the only game dish on the menu I’ve never seen or tried.
It was like a fine steak marinated in that wonderful juniper sauce –
very tender and juicy, and easy to cut, nicely seared on the outside
and pinkish-red on the inside.
Martinis, though
perfect, are not the only drink at Henry’s End. I ordered a glass
of Troublemaker varietal (Petit Syrah, Mourvedre, zinfandel and
grenache), a deep dark red with rich tannins and tart fruity flavor.
Surprisingly, two of
us had room for dessert. The newest person to Henry’s End was
sated, but the other chose the Dark and White Chocolate Mousse –
half Valhrona white chocolate and half bittersweet. My dessert was
the Banana Bread Pudding with vanilla ice cream. All it needed was
rum, but I took care of that with my after dinner drink: Kirk and
Sweeney 23-year old rum, served in a snifter. It was almost like a
fine grappa, but not as strong. The ladies were already planning a
return trip to try more of the exotic game dishes and I’ll probably
join them. After all, it is my version of Cheers.
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