Judas And the Black Messiah (Movie Review)
Directed by Shaka King and released on February 12th, 2021, Judas and the Black Messiah is an excellent historical drama reminiscent of those such as Goodfellas or Do the Right Thing. The film tells the little-known story of political activist Fred Hampton and how his leadership of the Black Panthers’ Chicago chapter resulted in conflict between him and the F.B.I under the stewardship of infamous Chief Director J. Edgar Hoover. Set in the late 1960’s, the film does a faithful job of capturing the period and is bolstered by a talented cast in which no character is wasted. It’s a compelling drama that shows the complexity of institutional racism while never letting its audience forget the humanity of the people involved. Not a lighthearted movie, though not cynical, it succeeds at leaving the viewer thinking over the questions the plot long after the movie has ended.
English actor Daniel Kaluuya stars as Fred Hampton with LaKeith Stanfield co-starring as Bill O’Neal. Supporting cast members include Jesse Plemmons, Dominique Fishback, Algee Smith and Martin Sheen as J. Edgar Hoover. The entire cast does a fantastic job, with Stanfield in particular giving a very sympathetic performance, despite his character’s many flaws. The script is a very layered and nuanced script that never comes across as preachy or judgmental, which is an issue writing can have when dealing with such sensitive issues like prejudice, police brutality, communism, social activism, and crime. The script, written by director Shaka King and Will Berson, highlights the motivations of every character and makes sure to never depict anyone as fully angelic or fully sinister. The sole exception being Martin Sheen’s J. Edgar Hoover, who comes across as slightly cartoonishly evil at times. In fairness, the real-life Hoover was something of a cartoonish villain- especially with regards to the civil rights movement. Furthermore, Sheen is only in a few scenes so this somewhat jarring shift in tone of his performance when compared to everyone else in the film is not enough to derail the movie.
The primary focus of the film is the internal conflict O’Neal feels about his role as a confidential informant for the F.B.I and Fred Hampton’s developing relationship with Deborah Johnson, played by Dominique Fishback. Fishback gives a deeply authentic performance and brilliantly conveys her character’s loss of innocence with a quiet dignity that sticks with you. One shot during the climax of the movie is exceptionally gut wrenching and Fishback is able to make you feel so much with nothing more than a look in her eyes. It is difficult to choose which performance is the “best” in this movie, since they are all so good, but Fishback’s certainly has a uniquely haunting quality. Jesse Plemmons also gives a great performance as the F.B.I Agent handling O’Neal. It’s a performance that shows how good intentions being combined with ignorance and pressure from superiors can lead to an otherwise decent person becoming complicit in an act of horrific injustice. Plemmons is not a cackling villain, he supports civil rights and even helped to arrest Klansmen who murdered civil rights activist but is still part of an institution that pressures him to perpetrate injustice. It is a sense of tragic irony, and a battle against fate, that feels as though it could fit alongside the dramatic plays from ancient Greece.
The script respects the intelligence of the audience enough to show them the truth of the situation to the best of its ability. Black Panthers in the film are shown working to feed impoverished children, expand voting rights, protesting police brutality and forming a multiethnic coalition to improve the lives of as many people as possible. Black Panther members are also shown in the movie standing over a wounded police officer who is begging for his life before killing him and laughing about how they tortured one of their own members to death and threw him “in the river with the rest of the trash” because they suspected he was an informant. The film does not shy away from showing the barbaric treatment of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement, all of which is factually correct, while also illustrating how violence begets more violence. Another fascinating idea the movie explores, and criticizes, is people in positions of authority having a “politics as war” mentality. There is a parallel between two characters who both have lines referring to their struggle as a war and it seems as though the writers wanted to suggest how this frame of mind contributes to further destruction.
As much as this movie is a crime drama, and a condemnation of racism, it is just as much of a tribute to the real-life Fred Hampton. Kaluuya’s portrayal is of someone who is very world weary, but also incredibly compassionate and intensely dedicated to helping his fellow man. A very minor criticism of the casting is that Kaluuya is around 15 years older than the real-life Fred Hampton. This doesn’t hinder the movie, as it is left somewhat ambiguous how old the characters are, but it is a bit jarring when the audience is given the full context. There is a moment of “no, that guy wasn’t in his 20’s”, but this is a very minor nitpick that does not affect the stellar quality of this film.
If you’re not someone who enjoys crime dramas, movies that provoke intense emotions in the audience, or you’re looking to watch a lighthearted movie with a group of friends- I would not recommend you watch Judas and the Black Messiah. Given the serious subject matter of the film, and our own fraught political times, this movie will not appeal to everyone. That is also not the film’s intention. If you are a fan of films such as Casino, Killers of the Flower Moon, Selma, 12 Years A Slave, Malcolm X or Black Klansman then you will really enjoy this movie. As someone who is a fan of all those movies, I highly recommend Judas and the Black Messiah.
4.5/5 Stars.
