Movies: Judas and the Black Messiah
I admit that before I heard about this movie, I had no idea who Fred Hampton was. I knew *this much* (holds thumb and finger slightly apart) about the Black Panthers, and certainly didn't know that Fred Hampton was spied on and then murdered by the FBI. But I can't say I'm surprised.
Shaka King's sophomore full-length film tells the fascinating story of Bill O'Neal (played by the ever-wonderful Lakeith Stanfield) and his betrayal of Fred Hampton (an electrifying Daniel Kaluuya), the Deputy Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party.
O'Neal was a career thief, and the film opens with him pretending to be a Fed in order to steal a car. He is arrested and he is given an option by FBI Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemmons, always excellent): go to prison for years or infiltrate the Black Panthers as an FBI informant.
It's important to note that O'Neal was still in his teens when this offer was made. Imagine being a 17 year old facing 5-7 years in prison, or having the option to spy for the FBI (and even be paid for it!). I know which choice I would have made.
Likewise, Fred Hampton was about 20 when these events took place. One criticism of the film is that they cast actors who are more than a decade older than the characters they play. I'm of two minds here: on the one hand, Stanfield and Kaluuya are a couple of the most talented actors working today. Kaluuya is especially riveting as the gifted orator and wise beyond his years Hampton. On the other hand, the director could have given an opportunity to a younger generation of actors to have breakthrough performances. In addition, younger actors would have really hit home the cruelty of the FBI in this story: they were manipulating and killing young people barely old enough to drink.
But it is what it is, and the movie was made with Stanfield and Kaluuya (as well Dominque Fishback, who played Hampton's partner and mother of his child, Deborah Johnson).
Judas and the Black Messiah works well on two levels: for one, it is riveting in the same way The Departed is: movies about spies, moles, and backstabbers are inherently interesting since betrayal is just such an affront to humanity. There's a reason why Dante's Inferno puts betrayers in the deepest circle in hell. So, it's just a very (I don't want to say "entertaining") good film that keeps you on the edge of your seat even if you know how it ends.
The other level the film works on is an educational or "consciousness raising" level. It is the perfect movie for our current political climate, in which many white people are for the first time realizing that white supremacy has been baked into our country since the very beginning and that what we have been raised to believe is "fair" and "just" is actually complete and total bullshit. The police only "protect and serve" those with white skin, historically and today, and the FBI went out of their way to suppress Black achievement and advancement--usually through violent means. Chattel slavery may have ended in the late 1800s in the United States, but the American government continued to do its damnedest to keep Black people in poverty and out of the voting booths. This story is just one of many.
But what I really liked about Judas and the Black Messiah is that even though there are clear "good guys" and "bad guys", the bad guys are allowed some complexity. There are moments where both Bill O'Neal and Roy Mitchell realize that the project they're involved in is way more violent than they anticipated. But since they don't have the power to stop it (at least without facing consequences), they become more aggressive to those they *do* have power over. Far be it from me to excuse Roy Mitchell's role in the murder of Fred Hampton, but the film shows that he was caught in an intricate web of white supremacy and toxic masculinity. He contributed to it, but it was not solely of his making. Likewise, Bill O'Neal had the option to suffer the consequences of committing crimes, but chose the path of betrayal instead, thinking it would be an easier way out. His suicide at age 40 suggests he was haunted by his actions decades later.
Another great thing about this film is that it highlights the contributions the Black Panther Party made on both national and local levels. It also doesn't water down the Communist theory and practice behind the party. I remember that scene in Forrest Gump where Jenny is dating a Black Panther who hits her, and Forrest has to come to her rescue. Only in recent years did I realize how fucked up that scene is and how it plays into the popular myth that the Panthers were violent and misogynist. While indeed, some Panthers had some fucked up views on gender, that is not the whole story, and it certainly shouldn't be the default way the Panthers are portrayed in media (esp. since it's not like white people weren't also sexist in the late 60s. Don Draper, anyone?).
Overall, Judas and the Black Messiah is a solid (perhaps a bit "Oscar bait-y"), heartbreaking film about historical events, but also about the choices people feel like the half to make in order to survive or thrive. White supremacy culture is complex, and works best when it hides in plain sight. A conversation where Mitchell tells O'Neal that he worked the Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner case in Mississippi as evidence that he is sympathetic to Civil Rights, as long as Black people don't "cheap [their] way to equality" is a good example of how white people tell themselves they are "good people" while in the midst of believing and doing racist things. It is all on our (white people's) terms, and if those impossible terms aren't met, we are given license to be racist while proclaiming innocence. Times, they are a-changin', but not fast enough.
Judas and the Black Messiah is a great film, and a real "of the moment" movie, especially if you're someone who is waking up to the lies we have been fed about the history of the push for Civil Rights. It's worth watching for the performances alone, but the message is incredibly important as well.
Grade: A-
