Read to know why should you (or not) watch this film. Complete analysis, review and breakdown of the 2020 Biographical Period-Thriller film by Shaka King.
1. General Review —
Bitterly real, audacious and extraordinarily acted, this contemporary correspondence of Biblical betrayal is surely gonna win hearts.
Judas and The Black Messiah is a true story entailing the struggle, rise and an unethical conspiracy to destroy the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter. On the night of December 4, 1969, the headquarter of Black Panther Party, Illinois was violently raided and attacked by a prudent unit from Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in conjunction with the Chicago Police Department and the FBI. The chairman, Fred Hampton along with his pregnant fiancé and other few comrades were sleeping inside the very premise. The film encompasses the time period, when the FBI marked Fred Hampton as a potential threat to the country and planted a counterintelligence operative (LaKeith Stanfield) within the Black Panther Party as an informant.
The need to dramatise the story is evidently minimal and so is maintained in the movie, but with a continuous dose of thrill and suspense. Daniel Kaluuya and Shaka King has aptly succeeded in portraying the revolutionary and personal side of 21 year young, drugged and assassinated Black Panther, Fred Hampton. If only the characters as well as the interactions of Bill O’Neal and Roy Mitchell could have been more vibrant or intriguing, the film literally had everything to be the best motion picture of 2021.
Read the Director’s Eye section to know more about the biblical analogy.
2. FIlm through protagonist’s eye —
Surprisingly, William “Bill” O’Neal turns out to be the lead character in the film. Oh yes, the negative drives the world, while the positive balances it. But honestly, Bill’s character is somewhat more complicated and intriguing than anyone else in the film. The conflict is pretty clear and is a big one in itself. Bill O’Neal is caught red handed while mugging a car from the crowns (black youth revolutionaries). Roy, FBI Special Agent Roy Mitchell interrogates, subtly threatens and asks him to work for him if he doesn’t wish to serve two years behind the bars.
Fear, Insecurity, Betrayal, Guilt and thousands of more emotions occupies Bill’s mind. What would you have done in a situation like this? Acted as a spy against your own rightful community? or would you have stood for the cause and served 2 years, or maybe more? However, Bill chooses the former option thinking that he would have to just pass some informations to get Fred arrested but things turned out drastically different from it. Bill had to choose between the guilt of betrayal and the fear of confinement. Every-time Roy summons him, Bill had to unwillingly surrender his wishes and continue on his hollowing trip of guilt and getting caught.
At times he’d get to know about how the sneaky rats are treated in the party. At times, he’d be on the verge of getting caught by the BPP members and would breakdown. What’s there to actually acknowledge is his contribution in rebuilding the party and its office. Although in disguise, his heart worked for the Panthers and so did he physically. The hatred for Roy Mitchell got converted into love for Fred Hampton, but over all fear ruled his mind.
He became the reason for Fred’s assassination as he was asked to drug him so that in the raid no officer is fired upon. Nowhere it is revealed that he actually did drug him or not. Years later, he gives an interview for the PBS documentary detailing about his impressions and experiences working with the Black Panther. He reveals how he was used by the FBI, and denies drugging Hampton on his last night, before the assassination.
Few months later, he dies in a car accident which in itself was controversial, claimed by many as suicide done in guilt.
3. Film through Director’s Eye —
Our counterintelligence program must prevent the rise of a black messiah from among their midst. — J. Edgar Hoover
What constitutes a great movie? If Shaka King would have asked this to the late Fred Hampton, he would have replied, “You gotta be high on it, while you make it.” Shaka King, another Tisch graduate has crafted the story in a very realistic and subtle way. Dramatisation is limited, evoking the emotions using pseudo-realism. It’s a great film if the filmmaker’s audacity to convey the truth is visible in the movie. It is a great film, if the film gives a deep insight about the prominent human emotions through protagonist or any other actor. Judas and The Black Messiah comprises both of ’em. Shaka King grapples both with the stereotypical black films in Hollywood, and the hidden history of America’s dark face.
Talking about the film’s biblical analogy that has given the film its name, Judas was among the original 12 apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane by kissing him and addressing him as “rabbi” to reveal his identity to the crowd who had come to arrest him. In the film, Bill O’Neal was one of the most trusted comrade in the Black Panther Party, and closest to Fred. Unwillingly whistling due to the threats of an FBI officer, Bill passes all the informations of the core party missions and in the end devilishly drugs the chairman and leaves him unconscious in the night to be killed by the assassins. And so, Fred Hampton comes out to be as a black messiah for the black community after the death of last black messiah, Dr. Martin Luther King who too was assassinated.
Shaka King uses archive footages at places, firstly to give the glimpse of social and political milieu in USA during the 1960s and then to emphasis on Bill O’Neal’s situational and emotional dilemmas or, the mental depravation caused due to all he was made to do against his own community.
4. Watch Closely —
Mr. Hoover who indirectly commands Roy Mitchell in the film is J. Edgar Hoover, the founding member and the first director of FBI continuously for 37 years. Fred Hampton’s son is 51 now, and is actively taking forward his father’s work. Bobby Seale, the founding member of BPP was prosecuted in 1968, under the famous case of “Chicago 7.” Watch this year’s oscar nominated film, The Trial of the Chicago 7 for more.
