Judas and the Black Messiah

 

Director: Shaka King                    

Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Ashton Sanders, Martin Sheen

According to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI in the 1960s, America’s biggest threats to its sovereignty weren’t from abroad, they were from within. Because of that belief of Hoover’s, the Bureau formed a series of surveillance operations in the late 1950s called COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program), in which it infiltrated numerous political organizations it considered subversive.

One of its targets in the late 1960s was the leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers, Fred Hampton (played here by Daniel Kaluuya). Director Shaka King’s portrayal is tragic as we witness the potential Hampton exhibited at such a young age only to have his life cut short. It is also a sobering reminder of how cunning and ruthless Hoover’s FBI could be, not to mention dismissive of due process rights. 

Hoover considered Hampton a real threat to the establishment, perhaps an heir to the Civil Rights movement leadership that Martin Luther King, Jr. once occupied. He was Hell bent on preventing that and wanted the Bureau to get inside the Black Panther party in Illinois. Since the Bureau is almost exclusively white, they were going to have to recruit someone from the outside to be its eyes and ears from the inside.

His vehicle for that mission was Bill O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), a black car thief in Chicago. One night, O’Neal portrays himself as an FBI agent to steal a car. But he manages to get caught. The FBI offers him a deal. Either he works for them and gets inside the Black Panther party, or he faces at least 6 years in prison. You don’t have to try too hard to guess which choice he makes.

Hampton’s star is rising among the Black Panthers at such a young age (he was only 21 when he was killed). He is articulate, smart, and well-read. He is wise beyond his years and you can easily understand why he rose to a position of prominence so quickly within the Black Panther Party. He also says at one point in the film that his mother used to babysit Emmett Till, so it’s not hard to grasp what may have gotten him started on this path of achieving racial and economic equality. The Black Panthers develop a coalition with other groups (including white supremacists) to combat poverty and police brutality. To Hampton, poverty was the common denominator among all the various groups he tried to persuade to work with him.  He was a galvanizing force and had a way of persuading even the staunchest of opponents.

O’Neal makes his way into the organization and proves to be an asset to the party almost immediately. Though there are a few hiccups during his ascension to head of security, he proves his loyalty time and again. He worked assiduously to help rebuild the Illinois chapter’s headquarters after Chicago police firebomb it.

LaKeith Stanfield is an extraordinary actor and he brings such subtlety to his role. We know O’Neal’s original motive for going along with the FBI. But he and director King bring in other facets that shape his character. First, there is a report that an informant was found in another Black Panther chapter. Once the party discovered the mole, the rumor is he was tortured and ultimately murdered. That certainly makes O’Neal nervous. But there is an unmistakable zeal in the way O’Neal carries out his duties with the party – so much so you wonder whether he is really buying into Hampton’s vision or the hustler in him just allows him to act convincingly.

The FBI manages to have Hampton thrown in jail on a bogus theft conviction. But his time in prison doesn’t last long. While his case is being appealed to the state Supreme Court, he is granted a release. He heads back to the party headquarters so he can continue to do his work, including opening a medical clinic for struggling families and continuing to provide meals to hungry kids. However, when the FBI gets word that the appeal is denied, Hoover delivers one of the most chilling lines of the film to one of his agents: “Prison is only a temporary solution.”

While the Black Panthers’ ultimate purpose was peaceful, the tactics of the FBI and Chicago Police gave them little choice but to adopt more combative rhetoric. The language they use is replete with war-like terms. They consistently spoke of a revolution and began to stockpile weapons.

O’Neal is clearly conflicted. While he certainly wants to fulfill his obligations to the FBI, he also wants to appease both sides. That goal becomes increasingly difficult as the Bureau and the Panthers put O’Neal in increasingly conflicting situations. On the night of the FBI’s raid, law enforcement fired 99 shots into the rooms where Hampton and his fellow Panthers slept while only one shot was fired in retaliation. Hampton was shot and killed at point-blank range.

There is a part of me that thinks this story should have been told long ago. But in light of racial tension over the last year, perhaps this was the perfect time for it to be dramatized. My only qualm with the film is the murkiness of the Panthers’ position on violence. At times the language is bellicose. At others it is peaceful. The Panthers routinely displayed weapons, dressed in military garb, and even solicited the help of a well-known gang. Perhaps that is the point. Maybe Hampton was more Che Guevara and less MLK, Jr. I wanted director King to make that stance much clearer and I didn’t see it.

This is not only an opportunity for a younger generation to become more well-acquainted with Hampton and the legacy of the Black Panthers, this is an extraordinary work. It is the kind of film that makes me look forward to whatever Shaka King does in the future regardless of the subject.