Judas and the Black Messiah
Director: Shaka King
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Genre: Black Powerful
Good films educate. They provide insight and cause reflection. Judas and the Black Messiah is a good film.
Like most Australians, my knowledge of the Black Panther movement pretty much started and ended with the image of two black-power-saluting American athletes and the supportive Aussie, Peter Norman, on the dais in Mexico City in 1968. But the movement is so much more important than that one historical and striking sports photo.
What Judas and the Black Messiah taught me were important history lessons.
The Black Panther movement rose to prominence partly as a sometimes violent and political response to the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Its figurehead was the radical left-wing firebrand Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). The FBI used blatant and deadly force and infiltrators such as William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) to wage a war against the movement, assassinating Hampton and undermining the movement but ultimately doing nothing to prevent the march of civil rights.
The reality is a lot more complicated than that, but interestingly the only real disappointment of Judas and the Black Messiah is when it tries to capture some of the complexity and touch on the lives of supporting characters. The film is too long as a result and loses focus. So, it’s ironic that both Kaluuya and Stanfield received Oscar nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and neither was considered to be the lead.
Kaluuya is the favourite with the bookies at $1.25. Judas and the Black Messiah is a roughie to take out Best Picture at $19, but irrespective of winning or losing, it’s still great value.
Rating: Four clenched fists.
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