While a majority of America is concerned about who their valentine is going to be, there is a part of the nation that is celebrating something completely different in the month of February. Black History Month is a time set aside in the year to recognize the accomplishments and lives within the black community throughout history (although, it’s really all year long for us). Warner Brothers Media is kicking it off with a bang in the first half of February. Hitting theaters on the twelfth, Judas and the Black Messiah follows William O’Neal as he infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers and their chairman, Fred Hampton, for the FBI. Although the government painted them as a dangerous militia, Shaka King and the Lucas Brothers “heightens the contradictions” with this story of comradery, black love, and systematic corruption.
William O’neal (played by LaKeith Stanfield) is caught impersonating an officer as a scheme to steal cars. In doing so, FBI agent Roy Mitchell (played by Jesse Plemons) offers him a deal if he agrees to work as an informant and become a Black Panther member. Without spoiling the actual movie, the measures he takes to keep himself safe ultimately ends the life of Hampton. This was the desired result from the start in the eyes of the FBI, but not to O’neal or even Mitchell.
The parallels between modern day social justice and the uproar of the Black Panthers is astonishingly represented with the character of Roy Mitchell. Director Shaka King goes as far to label him as a modern white liberal with his performative allyship and political views. Detective Mitchell considers himself an anti-racist in the same sentence that he compares the Black Panthers to the KKK. He expects William to agree with him, which he does after a bit of hesitation. Multiple times throughout the movie, Stanfield’s character exhibits uncertainty and it grows the more he establishes relationships with members of the group. He struggles with his motivation of self-interest as it conflicts with the ever growing sense of community he witnesses amongst the group. Through a dream sequence, we even see this subconscious battle play out.
This dynamic speaks a lot to the way the United States government weaponizes black people to be used against one another. It’s further supported with a fragment of the narrative involving the FBI agents constructing a newsletter that resembles one of the Black Panther party. They took it a step further by planting them in a rivalry territory to spark conflict. Despite acknowledging that the Klu Klux Klan were one in the same with the Black Panthers, the FBI stops at nothing to end the revolutionary that was Fred Hampton. Even after watching it, I still cannot wrap my head around the way ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ portrays the government and how it upholds white supremacy. It’s something most of us are aware of, but it’s often overlooked in the media.
An aspect of the film that King executes beautifully is the leadership and humility of Fred Hampton; it’s demonstrated multiple times throughout the narrative. In one instance, Chairman Fred (played by Daniel Kaluuya) takes his chapter to visit other political groups in the community to bring about unity against the oppressiveness of the US Government. He, as well as the Black Panther Party, believed it was the people against the government: “Power anywhere where there’s people”. This ideology and motivation that Fred carried adds momentum to the scene that occurs once he is released from prison. The camera cuts from a low shot of his face to a medium wide shot of the mass of Panthers, Hampton’s back is centered to the camera. He kick starts the chant: “I am a revolutionary”.
Although Chairman Fred is the foreground star of this piece, the black women of the party were astonishing to watch as well. Dominique Fishback, who plays Deborah Johnson (now known as Akua Njeri), sensationally depicts the strength that society often holds black women to. One of the poems her character reads, originally written by Dominique herself, characterizes this as it focuses on being a black woman loving a black man. Her and several other of the female characters avoid showing emotion in traumatic moments, which further develops the execution of this stereotype. I believe this to be one of the reasons why this film has so much passion embedded into it.
While a majority of the narrative can be found with a google search, the amount of thought and detail given to each fragment of the production is recognized throughout . Working closely with Chairman Freddie Hampton Jr. and Mother Akua, Shaka King and the Lucas Brothers wanted to tell Chairman Fred’s story the way he should be honored. Shaka King wishes for viewers to walk away with the confirmation that the Black Panthers weren’t a terrorist group, but that they “led with love”. Although their original intention was to capture 1968, they state, “so little has changed since then that we don’t really have to draw parallels to the present.”. With that being said, watch it for what it is and what it isn’t. Allow it to give you perspective, history, and a new lens to view America through. Catch it in theaters February 12 or on HBO Max 31 days after the theatrical release!