Film Review: Judas and the black messiah
(L-r) CALEB EBERHARDT as Bob Lee, DARRELL BRITT-GIBSON as Bobby Rush, ASHTON SANDERS as Jimmy Palmer, DANIEL KALUUYA as Chairman Fred Hampton and LAKEITH STANFIELD as Bill O’Neal in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
There was so much passionate political, racial and social unrest in the 1960s, it is hardly surprising that some of the details have been blurred, or twisted over time. I confess that my knowledge of the genesis and development of the Black Panther Party was both scanty and sketchy. This very well-done deep dive into the rise and fall of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) as he ascended to chairman of the Ohio branch of the party takes place in the mean streets of Chicago. Kaluuya brings gravitas and compassion to Fred’s commitment to the importance of the humanitarian goals of the party – including schools, health, childcare, police brutality and prison reform. Being in Chicago in the 1960s, it also included the inevitability of violence and the need for armed protection. Fred appears to be naively committed to nonviolent methods whenever possible, relying on moving rhetoric and community outreach. He has significant success expanding the party relatively peacefully, in spite of the militant stance of the Black Power movement.
(Top l-r) DARRELL BRITT-GIBSON as Bobby Rush, DANIEL KALUUYA as Chairman Fred Hampton and ASHTON SANDERS as Jimmy Palmer in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
As Fred moves up the ladder to become chairman of the Ohio branch, attracting the attention of J Edgar Hoover’s FBI, William O’Neal (LaKeith Stansfield) has had his career as a car thief halted by his arrest for posing as an FBI agent while committing his last crime. Ironically, he is convinced by the smug white FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) that he can avoid prison by cooperating with the agency for 5 years. O’Neal seems unburdened by strong beliefs in anything beyond survival and is easily turned with some added incentives. He is tasked with infiltrating the Panthers and getting close to Hampton.
(L-r) LAKEITH STANFIELD as Bill O’Neal and JESSE PLEMONS as Roy Mitchell in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
It is fascinating to watch the intricacies which develop between the chilly calculating agent Mitchell as he manipulates the wily young thief’s vulnerabilities. Once Bill’s resourcefulness gains him access and eventually a trusted position close to Fred, the dynamics are constantly shifting between all the players as the stakes get higher. This intimate examination inside the party goes a long way toward elevating the Panthers, while simultaneously painting an extremely ugly picture of the FBI under the zealotry of J. Edgar Hoover (played with demonic perfection by Martin Sheen). Until the final act of betrayal Bill has not imagined the extent of extra-legal actions which the agency would employ. It is a harrowing ride that we are taken for as Bill finds himself lodged between a rock and a hard place.
(Center front-back) LaKEITH STANFIELD as William O’Neal and DANIEL KALUUYA as Chairman Fred Hampton in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
The irony of this chapter of our history of social movements and the FBI sits in such clear contrast to today’s current political and social situation. One could only wish that today’s FBI lavished the same attention on white supremacist groups and domestic anti-democratic militias as it has historically turned against Black activist citizens, sports figures (Mohamad Ali), entertainers (Nina Simone, Billie Holiday), homosexuals and Communists. I found it fully involving and provocative, well-written and directed with superb performances.
(Available on HBOMax)
