JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
LaKeith Stanfield + Daniel Kaluuya Lead A Movement
Shaka King’s directorial debut Judas and the Black Messiah follows the true story of Chicago Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton’s (Daniel Kaluuya) murder by the FBI. In the late 1960s, 21-year-old Hampton was making quite a name for himself as an organizer. He managed to unify the Black Panthers with several different political organizing groups, forming what he called The Rainbow Coalition. The United States government, specifically J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen), saw Hampton as a major threat and sought to bring him down by any means necessary. The FBI got their chance when petty thief William “Bill” O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) was arrested for attempted grand larceny. O’Neal was given a choice by FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons), infiltrate the Black Panther party and give us information on Hampton, or face years in prison. O’Neal took the deal.
O’Neal insinuated himself into the group, even going so far as to be promoted to Hampton’s personal driver and bodyguard. All the while, he was reporting back to the FBI on Hampton’s plans. This all came to a head, when O’Neal was asked to provide the Feds with blueprints for Hampton’s apartment, he was then asked to knock Hampton out with sleeping meds so that the FBI could raid the apartment. That pre-dawn raid led to the murder of Hampton as well as fellow Black Panther member Mark Clark.
King co-wrote the script with Will Berson. In addition to being King’s feature directorial debut, it is also the first feature written by either King or Berson. Despite grappling with complex political themes and characters over decades, the film is tightly structured and builds tensions in ways that respect and honor the real life events and individuals depicted. The cinematography by Sean Bobbitt (who shot Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Hunger, and Shame) is permeated with a Kodachrome color palette that matches the archival photographs and footage interspersed through film. The film also stars Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, and Lil Rel Howery.
Following its premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on February 1st, this increasingly buzzy Oscar contender—Kaluuya just picked up a nod for Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards—Judas and the Black Messiah opens in theaters and is available for streaming on HBO Max on February 12th.
