Director/co-writer Shaka King’s thrilling Judas and the Black Messiah explosively dramatizes the struggle of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya) and the FBI’s persecution of Hampton and the Black Panther Party. Threatened by the charismatic, fearless Hampton and the Panthers’ militancy, Bureau Director J. Edgar Hoover (played by Martin Sheen) unleashes COINTELPRO on the young freedom fighter and his courageous comrades.
Hoover directs agent Roy Mitchell (played by Jesse Plemons) to spearhead the Counterintelligence Program’s covert campaign of dirty tricks in Chicago. Using the threat of imprisonment and bribery, Mitchell recruits criminal William O’Neal (played by LaKeith Stanfield) to infiltrate and subvert the Illinois branch of the Panthers, which Hampton is the chairman of. Hampton, who is also the party’s national deputy chairman, is put in the crosshairs by Hoover, who fears the rise of a “Black Messiah” able to awaken and lead the Black masses in the late 1960s.
The rabblerousing “Chairman Fred,” as he was called, threatens the white supremacist status quo for a variety of reasons. Eschewing separatism for “solidarity,” Hampton vigorously strives to unite a “Rainbow Coalition” of poor and progressive white, Latinx, and Black activists with the Panthers, who are portrayed as socialists. The Black Panther Party’s ideology includes free social services including health clinics, children’s breakfast programs, and political education.
The Panthers’ embrace of socialism translates as a militantly anti-imperialist stance that opposes the Vietnam War and the excessive use of force by police, who are seen by the Black Panthers as an occupying colonial army in Black communities.
Judas and the Black Messiah portrays Hampton as a gifted organizer and orator, who can make listeners stand up and cheer—at a mass rally the eloquent Chairman Fred leads followers in chanting: “I am a revolutionary!” Hoover’s secret police and the Chicago Police Department see him as a threat that must be stopped by any means necessary. This triggers bloody shootouts between the Black Panther Party and law enforcement, including the December 4, 1969, predawn raid in which Hampton and fellow Panther Mark Clark were killed.
King’s fact-based 126-minute movie received an American Film Institute “Movie of the Year” AFI Award, and rightfully so. Kaluuya delivers a haymaker of a performance, incarnating the heroic Chairman Fred, earning him a number of wins and nominations, including Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations. As far as this critic is concerned, this is Kaluuya’s best role yet.
Stanfield also excels, turning in a nuanced portrayal of a tortured informer with a conscience. And it’s great fun watching one of Hollywood’s most committed activists, the oft-arrested veteran protester Martin Sheen on the other side of the law, playing the infamous secret policeman, J. Edgar Hoover.
Watching this movie is like being punched right between the eyes. Although the events dramatized took place more than half a century ago, Judas and the Black Messiah feels timely and urgent. It is a must-see film for all concerned with Black Lives Matter, police brutality, and social justice—and even more so for audiences who aren’t.
Judas and the Black Messiah debuts February 12 on HBO Max and in theaters, such as the Cinelounge Drive-In Hollywood.