[8.3/10] I took the title of *Judas and the Black Messiah* to be fanciful, something eye-catching and poetic that represents some of the larger themes of the film in a more lyrical way. But it’s more literal than I had imagined.

Fred Hampton, the charismatic and forward-thinking chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther party, is painted as nothing short of a messianic figure. He is preternaturally kind and decent. Despite his revolutionary fervor, he shows mercy and relents from violence. He speaks of the inequities of the system, the injustice inherent in it. He casts off divisions in the name of recognizing common grievances and collective solutions. He is, in short, too good for this world, a beacon of light where it’s needed most.

And William O’Neal is nothing short of his betrayer. Rising through the ranks of the Black Panthers to become the Illinois chapter’s security captain, while informing to the FBI in exchange for his pieces of silver, O’Neal is the film’s passenger protagonist but also its villain. It makes him human, struggling with self-doubt and regret, but also venal, willing to set aside his principles and sell out his friends and the movement, to protect his own hide and feather his own nest. He dines at Fred Hampton’s last supper, having laid the ground for what happens next.

The FBI, then, are the Romans in the story, the ruling body afraid of what this humble but powerful man preaches, and so conspires to kill him, lest his ideas and influence spread. There is no nuance to the feds in *Judas*. They are an evil collective, laughing at the pamphlets they write to sow discord, seeming plainly undisturbed at their informants committing terrible acts, and casually plot to take down those agitating for liberation in cold blood.

The film zeroes in on the irony of Special Agent Mitchell’s protestations to O’Neal -- that the Black Panthers and the Klu Klux Klan are two sides of the same coin, equally brutal in their methods and both solely interested in fostering hate and destabilizing the country. It is, instead, the cruelty of the organization he works for that’s put on display, the despicable methods that mark the movie’s vision of the FBI as the cause of the anger and barbarism they claim to be trying to fight.

That’s the one place of nuance *Judas* offers. Initially, Agent Mitchell (played with a banal, homespun malevolence by Jesse Plemons) seems like the decent guy, the sop to audiences who will recognize the rot in his organization’s bunker. Instead, his arc is the reverse, to seem empathetic and on the side of right in the beginning, but to ultimately reveal himself as no less cruel or prejudiced or capable of committing atrocities when racial equality is not presented as an abstraction, but as something that could affect his family. Not for nothing, there’s a good piece to be written about the difference between this approach and the one taken by fellow Oscar contender *The Trial of the Chicago 7* toward a similarly-positioned character.

With that backdrop, the movie succeeds both on the framing and on the strength of its performances. Daniel Kaluuya cuts an impressive figure as Hampton, able to turn on those moment of power where his words and presence need to stir the soul, while also being able to tone down the man in softer times to show his sense of being a philosopher, a harmonizer, someone who defuses situations when needed instead of igniting them. But he also embodies Hampton away from his revolutionary fervor, in moving personal moments where he canoodles with his wife or exudes camaraderie with his brothers-in-arms, as friends, not just compatriots in the same struggles.

At the same time, Lakeith Stanfield is a live wire as O’Neal. He carries the internal buzz of a man who’s believing the messages he hears expressed so thunderingly from the man he’s been sent to spy on, while also being desperately afraid that he’ll be found out and punished for his betrayal, in vicious terms. He’s not a one note scoundrel, but rather the opposite of Fred, someone who cares more about saving himself than about saving the people.

That’s the core of Hampton’s nigh-divine decency here, and the film’s secondary theme -- that where there are people, there is power, and that protecting them, educating them, empowering them, is more important than preserving any one life, even his.

We see it in Fred’s rejection of the money meant to grant him escape from an impending prison sentence on trumped on charges, earmarking instead to build a clinic to honor the memory of his dead comrade and trumpet what he stood for. We see it in the way that what really makes the FBI nervous is how Hampton unites different factions and groups under a common cause of the oppressed, one that cuts across race. And we see it, most movingly, in the way that the bombing of the Panthers’ headquarters by the police is met with an outpour of support and help from across the community, a sign that what starts with the people cannot be stopped or suppressed even by the most incendiary rebukes from those in power.

These moments of hope come with a certain dreadful dramatic irony to anyone who walks into the movie knowing where Fred Hampton’s story ends. It makes the scenes where O’Neal comes so close to being found out that much more harrowing, knowing that it could have prevented this fate. It makes the poem from Deborah Johnson, Hampton’s partner and the mother of his child, all the more poignant when she voices the sentiment of the costs extracted of this war, and considers the different kinds of revolutionary acts further away from such mortal peril. And it makes Fred’s last night something mournful and almost holy, the last words, the last bond, of a prophetic figure before his fated end.

In that, *Judas and the Black Messiah* presents something spiritual, biblical in its atmosphere and the lens through which it views these grisly events. There are the brutal overlords, heedlessly cutting down those who would challenge their established order. There is the self-preserving turncoat, pained by his actions but unwilling or unable to make a different choice. And there is the man himself, near-deified in death, speaking his truth and imparting his message to the people, in the hopes both would outlive him, and the knowledge that they would almost certainly have to.

“I’m free.”

The first great movie of 2021 folks!

Out of all the ‘Civil Rights Movement’ movies I’ve seen over the years, I honestly believe that this might be the best one. Without falling into any traditional biopics tropes that could easily dramatize its history. It instead focuses on a story about fear, violence, betrayal, and loyalty. It is heavily empathize from different perspectives; it’s the reason why it was more effective.

In the movie, whenever someone gets shot, beaten, or just hurt, you feel it. The sound work, directing, and the performers manage to make it believable. Very brutal and realistic. However, what surprised me the most is how suspenseful the movie was at times, with the payoff either being soul crushing or shocking.

All thanks to Shaka King’s directing and Sean Bobbitt’s cinematography that manages to capture the most difficult times in American history, but also capturing the feeling of that time, or what it must have felt like.

Daniel Kaluuya, what a beast of an actor that keeps growing momentum over the years. Powerful and natural, he really is one of the best working actors of today. Not only did he capture the accent but nailed down the overall feeling of the charismatic activist Fred Hampton.

LaKeith Stanfield, a fantastic character actor that pops up everywhere and fully commits to every role he plays. In this movie, he delivers a fantastic performance and he continues to surprise and amaze me. Perfectly casted as well, him playing Bill O'Neal, the tense and sleek FBI informant who infiltrates the Black Panther Party and keeps tabs on their charismatic leader. Stanfield himself already has that intense look in real life, which best suits him for this type of role.

Martin Sheen and Jesse Plemons were also fantastic in their supporting roles. Dominique Fishback also deserves a mention here because I thought she was brilliant as Deborah Johnson, the woman who falls in love with Fred Hampton. There’s one particular scene in this movie, without her uttering a single word, absolutely killed it and made the scene itself more devastating. I’m keeping it vague because it will be spoiling things and we don't want that, do we? Watch the movie and see for yourself.

I found the overall experience devastating, and yet, a hopeful one as well, as there was little glimpses of light, because despite there being so much hate in this world, both past and present, you cannot destroy a revolution.

Overall rating: People say that ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ kept their interest throughout, but for me it didn’t, as I thought there had to be a more interesting movie to be made around the Black Panther Movement. Well, everyone, here it is.

I haven't seen a dramatic movie that talks so clearly about the Black Panther Party, clearly its chief and its members are the conspiracy that was hatched by party members.

The movie talks about the rise and fall of the Black Panther movement. If you are a fan of dramatic films with a flavor of documentaries, you should watch the movie. For a period almost centuries ago, Americans with black skin suffered from obtaining their rights, and this was also forbidden to be reflected in a dramatic, dramatic or documentary film. In America on the issue of racism and addressing it, perhaps because of the demonstrations that took place in America after the killing of George Floyd by the American company and the return of racism again to the American street.

The film begins in 1969, one year after the assassination of Martin Luther King, King. This assassination changed many of the party's priorities and its goal became the overthrow of the US government by announcing the revolutionary struggle. That is why President Nixon decided during this period to eliminate the party by all possible means, legal and illegal.

Many American artists sympathized with the Black Panther Party during this period. For example, the artist Jude Fonda visited the party's headquarters and declared her support for the party. Even the international star Marlin Brendo gave a speech to a large gathering of party members.

Judas and the Black Messiah What is meant metaphorically by Judas in the movie is Bill O'Neal and the Black Messiah is Fred Hampton, and in general it is a projection of the story of Judas' betrayal of Christ and his handing over to the Jews.

Contrary to the image that we see in other films that talk about racism against blacks, the film didn't attack white people, but rather attacked certain American institutions. The movie tried to tell the story honestly without distorting history. We saw white groups join the Black Panther Party, and here the traditional form of this type of film was broken. There is no real conflict between whites and blacks.

There are a lot of revolutionary poetry and social justice, but the script was formulated correctly. The movie did not make us feel like a show movie, but rather it was a logical narration without adding spices. The story was told through the villain or the hero, and this added a new dimension to the movie. The film's director, Shaka King, performed a classy tribute to black women through the character of Deborah Johnson, and we saw how women help the men of the party in thought, knowledge, and armed struggle.

The performance of the actors in general was remarkable and worthy of appreciation, and there was a very beautiful harmony between the characters. Daniel Kaluuya performed the character of Fred Hampton with utmost brilliance and deserved the Golden Globe Award well deserved, as well as the wonderful performance of LaKeith Stanfield, which showed the contradictions of the traitor Bill O'Neal.

The characters I was most impressed with are Bill O'Neal, his looks are full of fear, anxiety, and a sense of shame, especially since Fred Hampton does not know his betrayal. Really It is one of the most successful movies in 2021

It’s a bummer when a film has an important historical story to tell but the finished product just isn’t very good. Such is the case with “Judas and the Black Messiah,” director Shaka King‘s take on the true story of charismatic Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) and FBI informant William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), the man who infiltrated the African-American organization in Illinois in the late 1960s. It’s an interesting account of true events about two very important figures in our nation’s history, and the racial justice issues are just as relevant today. But topical material doesn’t always result in an award-worthy (or entertaining) movie.

There are plenty of things to appreciate about the film’s execution, including King’s confident directorial style and the knockout lead performances from Kaluuya and Stanfield. Kaluuya has massive shoes to fill when portraying a real life man who was filled with so much insight and wisdom, and he fully embraces Hampton’s mannerisms and speech, creating a wholly realized vision (the actor himself becomes almost unrecognizable).

The script is the weakest link, which is rare when so many of the other elements combine to create a cohesive vision. King and Will Berson‘s co-authored screenplay is too complicated, resulting in a stagnant film that takes more than an hour to hit its stride. Everything is painfully slow until then, with Berson and King taking far too long to tell the story. You can feel the admiration here, but the reverence towards their characters is so high that it impedes them from driving the story forward.

There’s a horrifying scene that tells the end of Hampton’s life story, an awful and upsetting act of injustice at the hands of law enforcement. It’s just one of the things that makes “Judas and the Black Messiah” an important narrative for current times, when so many people of color are still fighting for equality. I just wish the storytelling had been tightened a bit.

'Judas and the Black Messiah' (a bloody brilliant title that took a while for me to figure out) is a true powerhouse of a film - not just because it echoes the current climate and the Black Lives Matter movement, but for its standout performances from Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya and its fantastic direction from Shaka King.
- Chris dos Santos

Read Chris' full article...
https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-judas-and-the-black-messiah-revolutionary-true-story-of-the-black-panther-party-in-the-1960s