Hidden Figures (Movie)

What is the difference between ''true events'' and ''actual events''?

Reply to TheMadFool In that context 'truth' is a predicate of statements. An event can't be true, but an account of an event can be true (or not true).

Reply to Wayfarer Thanks.

Just brought tickets to watch this tomorrow after work. Perhaps the storyline itself is not historically accurate but it is true that there were three African-American women who worked at NASA and to do this during a period of great difficulty for both women and African-Americans is just... (Y)

Reply to TimeLine It is pretty accurate - dramatized, but based on real characters. And what characters. I'm sure you'll really enjoy it.

Reply to Wayfarer How do you know it's historically accurate?

Quoting Thorongil

How do you know it's historically accurate?

Wayfarer worked at NASA back in the day X-)

Actual is a synonym for true.

If Wayfarer is the technical writer for the instructions of the recent Yahtzee game I bought he is not to be trusted as an authority.

Reply to Thorongil At the end of the movie, there are photos and details about the lives of the three principles, who really did work at NASA in the capacities depicted in the film. Of course, it was dramatised, but all the principle characters were real people (including John Glenn).

Reply to Nils Loc Have no fear, I've never documented any computer games and at this stage in life, unlikely to start ;-)

Quoting Wayfarer

It is pretty accurate - dramatized, but based on real characters. And what characters. I'm sure you'll really enjoy it.

It was a good yet forgettable movie and whilst I am rather genteel and fluffy in nature, my mind is, well, lets just say I have an attraction to the powerful and persuasive. It is not often I walk out of a cinema feeling like how I felt after the first Matrix, or Unbreakable, or Ghost in a Shell (the original anime). Or even after Seven Samurai or To Kill a Mockingbird. But, for a Monday afternoon, it was unchallenging enough to be likeable. Nonetheless a great opportunity to expose a hidden aspect of US history.

Saw the film and I agree with TL, it was a nice portrayal, perhaps even true to events as they unfolded, but it didn't grab me. I think character development was lacking, maybe it took too big a chuck of time to encompass.

I liked "The Imitation Game" a 2014 American historical drama thriller film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore loosely based on the biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges. This movie had pathos, I felt drawn into the absurd historical circumstances it portrays, even though it exaggerates these circumstances, perhaps because it is able to realistically exaggerate that history. Of course the casting chemistry between Cumberbatch & Knightly was critical to the film's success. This film actually provoked social action. Turing was pardoned and there was an attempt to pardon the 49,000 gay people who were convicted under the same law.

Reply to Cavacava I saw Imitation Game and liked it OK, but I preferred Hidden Figures. There are films I have liked more, but in terms of recent movies, it's one of my current faves. Actually one of the things I liked about it was 'mathematician as heroine'. I was terrible at school maths, but have come to realise how powerful maths is later in life.

It was the trinity of the unlikely three - the female, a scientist, and African American - that certainly made the film worthwhile, but it just wasn't captivating and perhaps that is the inevitable outcome of the narrative. A great film for me is one that can make you think about the moral points long after the film is finished and even compare it to ideas and principles completely unrelated.

For instance, when I watched Unbreakable - which is one of my favourite films - I pondered about moral responsibility, about mathematics, about relationships etc. A movie that can make you think, laugh, cry and shock is a movie that is unforgettable. Hidden Figures is, forgettable.

Quoting Wayfarer

In that context 'truth' is a predicate of statements.

Actually, in that context (i.e. the context of the legend "THIS FILM IS BASED ON TRUE EVENTS"), "truth" obviously isn't a predicate of statements.

Reply to Michael Still reckon 'based on actual events' or 'based on a true story' are better English, but I'll admit it's a very pedantic distinction.

Although I will add again that an event can neither be true or false. An event either happens or if doesn't, and an account of it might be true or false. I bet @Banno would agree.

Reply to Wayfarer Then what about a false arrest?

Reply to Michael 'False arrest is a common law tort, where a plaintiff alleges he or she was held in custody without probable cause, or without an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.'

~Wikipedia