Judas and the Black Messiah

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
2021 | Dir. Shaka King | 126 Minutes

"I think I'll let history speak for me."

Threatened by the growing influence of prominent Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, the FBI coerces petty criminal Bill O'Neal into infiltrating Hampton's inner circle. As tensions escalate, O'Neal commits a desperate act of betrayal.

Loosely based on true events, Judas and the Black Messiah is an intense dramatization of a criminally overlooked chapter in the history of the American civil rights movement. The picture is superbly plotted and directed by Shaka King, depicting Hampton and O'Neal with genuine humanity. Hampton's ability to inspire a wide variety of disenfranchised Americans to unite against the establishment is just one facet of his character displayed in the film, behind closed doors he is also presented as the tender sort of man who endearingly struggles with his words when courting the love of his life and who earnestly puts the well-being of his community above his own. The film portrays O'Neal not as a morally bankrupt traitor but as an ignorant, troubled, severely conflicted individual, pushed into a life of constant paranoia by both his own recklessness and taken advantage by his federal law enforcement masters under threat of imprisonment.

As the plot unfolds primary through O'Neal's point of view, lurking in the background quietly assisting the FBI's  efforts to undermine Hampton's fight for the people, there is palpable tension throughout the film. With pressure constantly mounting on both sides, O'Neal is constantly in danger. Violence rapidly escalates between law enforcement and the Panthers with O'Neal narrowly evading the crossfire. Suspected informants within Hampton's organization are lethally executed, in reality among the many acts secretly perpetrated by the FBI to sow discord, and O'Neal's cover is frequently tested, in one instance literally at gunpoint. Habitually looking over his shoulder, O'Neal is nearly outed by one of his past marks at a meeting between the Panthers and militant activist group and is startled to see his FBI handler among the audience at one of Hampton's rallies. While the film makes the case for O'Neal's desperation to shut Hampton down out of fear understandable if not justifiable, the final act of the picture in which a visibly shaken O'Neal plays his part in Hampton's brutal execution at the hands of law enforcement is particularly difficult to watch.

LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya are simply outstanding, delivering the very best work of their respective careers so far. As Bill O'Neal, the "Judas" of this story, Stanfield exudes a manic energy that is at times sympathetic but consistently deeply disquietingly frustrating. Kaluuya is positively charismatic as revolutionary leader Fred Hampton, a thoroughly powerful performance. Playing Hampton's girlfriend Deborah Johnson, Dominique Fishback is heartbreaking as the emotional center of the Hampton's storyline. The film also features the effortlessly creepy Jesse Plemons as O'Neal's FBI handler, Martin Sheen under heavy prosthetics as legendary racist J. Edgar Hoover, Dominique Thorne standing out as a particularly aggressive Black Panther Party member, and Lil Rel Howery briefly appearing as an undercover FBI agent.

Judas and the Black Messiah is a challenging, engaging, and truly excellent film. With stylish precision, Shaka King delivers a complex uncompromising narrative in which the establishment utilizes underhanded tactics to destroy a nascent radical revolution. At its heart, the picture is essentially a study of two men condemned in contrasting ways by a system that hates them.

FRAGMENTS
- LaKeith Stanfield, Daniel Kaluuya, and Lil Rel Howery starred in 2018 Best Picture Nominee Get Out

- The film references events depicted in competing 2021 Best Picture Nominee The Trial of the Chicago 7 which features a portrayal of Fred Hampton played by Kelvin Harrison Jr.


MCU CONNECTIONS
- Daniel Kaluuya (W'Kabi in Black Panther)