‘Judas and the Black Messiah’: You Can’t Kill a Revolution:
Despite initial glimpses, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ is a war film. Make no mistake about that. There has been an internal war since the very founding of the United States, and it continues to this day. Shaka King knows this, and he paints a stunning spotlight of our nation’s still-living demons for us without holding any punches.
Chicago. 1968. Bill O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), appearing to be an FBI Officer, holds up a group of young men in a bar, waving a badge like it is nobody’s business. Hands are raised. Pockets emptied… he takes a set of car keys. Bill isn’t and officer. He is a thief. His charade doesn’t last very long, and he is soon arrested. He is given a choice by Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons): go to jail, or go undercover as an informant into the Illinois Black Panther Party, led by the vigorous and charismatic Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). Bill chooses the later without hesitation.
Up until this point we have only seen glimpses of the man known as Fred Hampton. He is viewed as an inherent threat. A terrorist. An agitator. We even witness J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) naming him the greatest threat to the security of this country… But then we get to know him.
As with Bill, the audience steps into Hampton’s world, and get to experience his struggle. We do not see a bloodthirsty terrorist the FBI paints him as. We see a revolutionary, by the people, for the people. We see a man who brings people together. An antifascist. Barely over the age of 20, the will and charm of a single man unified warring gangs, militias, civil rights groups, people of all races, ages, and more. Hampton understands that this is how you win the fight for true freedom. A revolution for all. We, along with Bill, see Hampton as the hero he truly was.
Director Shaka King shows a raw and powerful confidence that any filmmaker should aspire to achieve. His courage and strength as a storyteller burst in all aspects of the film from the script to his stunning work with the actors. Everyone is giving career-bests in every department. The cinematography is a rare combination of realism and style that doesn’t bash you over the head, and the acting… Stanfield and Kaluuya give the year’s two best performances in a single film. Stanfield’s internal monologue of purpose and fear morphs into tragedy and disaster in a beautifully subtle way. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Kaluuya’s Hampton shows us both the boisterous, dominating side of his personality while also giving way to a tender, kind-hearted man who truly does this for the people he loves.
‘Judas’ isn’t afraid to hold back any punches of the war the U.S. government waged on Black America. The BPP is taunted and intimidated from second one of the film. The government views and treats them like animals. Police do not hesitate to brutalize and shoot at these children. Yes. Children. Most of our characters, like Hampton, were just scratching the surface of their 20s. Some were even younger. The youth are fighting a defensive war against the entire world. This is our war.
Let us make one thing clear. The FBI murdered Hampton.They didn’t hunt down a psychotic terrorist, or a deluded self-proclaimed prophet, as propaganda might have one believe. Fred Hampton was a man who fought for the civil and economic liberation of all peoples. And the federal government shot him in his bed as he slept. He was 21 years old when he was assassinated.
The story of Fred Hampton and Bill O’Neal is one of rebellion, love, war, and eventual betrayal and manipulation. And it would’ve suffered if in the hands of a lesser director. You won’t leave with a good feeling. Instead you will leave with your eyes open.
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) ★★★★½
