Judas and The Black Messiah (2021)
Two things that come to mind when hearing the name Judas: Jesus Christ and betrayal. Judas loved Jesus, he believed in his ideas, he was his close friend and yet he betrayed him for 30 silver coins. After being arrested by the FBI, Bill O'Neal finds himself joining the Black Panthers as a spy. Initially, he doesn't care about their struggle as he is in it purely to avoid incarceration. However, once Fred Hampton's revolutionary ideas manage to crawl into his mind, Bill finds himself at a moral crossroad.
On one side, he likes staying out of jail while getting paid by the FBI; on the other, he feels the rebellious spirit coursing through his veins as he gets closer and closer to The Black Messiah and LaKeith plays that part to perfection. Daniel Kaluuya gives a volcanic performance as Fred Hampton and yet it felt like a miscasting despite his tremendous energy. The real 21 year old Fred looked like a man of knowledge with wisdom beaming out of his eyes; the same couldn't be felt about Daniel who is also 10 years older. Furthermore, instead of delving deeper into Fred's life, the movie limits his time while choosing to focus on shootouts.
What is important in any revolutionary film, specially if it aims to be realistic, is to portray both sides of the coin and I think this movie doesn't achieve that objective. Instead of focusing on counter politics, Bill's motivations or Fred's backstory, the film runs all over the place as events and characters are introduced without any development simply for the sake of adding layers and creating noise.
Despite losing it's focus, the movie successfully establishes a core idea which will hopefully inspire peole to read about these events. Aesthetically, the film felt immersive as the revolutionary spirit was flowing through the screen; Kendrick Lamar's Hiii Power would have fit nicely here. Giving credit where credit is due, the movoe stayed true to the title by managing to make it all about Judas and his weakness. On the day when he was tasked with the ultimate betrayal, Bill burst into tears just as Judas cried when he had to betray Jesus and in a way, that felt poetic.
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Two things that come to mind when hearing the name Judas: Jesus Christ and betrayal. Judas loved Jesus, he believed in his ideas, he was his close friend and yet he betrayed him for 30 silver coins. After being arrested by the FBI, Bill O'Neal finds himself joining the Black Panthers as a spy. Initially, he doesn't care about their struggle as he is in it purely to avoid incarceration. However, once Fred Hampton's revolutionary ideas manage to crawl into his mind, Bill finds himself at a moral crossroad.
On one side, he likes staying out of jail while getting paid by the FBI; on the other, he feels the rebellious spirit coursing through his veins as he gets closer and closer to The Black Messiah and LaKeith plays that part to perfection. Daniel Kaluuya gives a volcanic performance as Fred Hampton and yet it felt like a miscasting despite his tremendous energy. The real 21 year old Fred looked like a man of knowledge with wisdom beaming out of his eyes; the same couldn't be felt about Daniel who is also 10 years older. Furthermore, instead of delving deeper into Fred's life, the movie limits his time while choosing to focus on shootouts.
What is important in any revolutionary film, specially if it aims to be realistic, is to portray both sides of the coin and I think this movie doesn't achieve that objective. Instead of focusing on counter politics, Bill's motivations or Fred's backstory, the film runs all over the place as events and characters are introduced without any development simply for the sake of adding layers and creating noise.
Despite losing it's focus, the movie successfully establishes a core idea which will hopefully inspire peole to read about these events. Aesthetically, the film felt immersive as the revolutionary spirit was flowing through the screen; Kendrick Lamar's Hiii Power would have fit nicely here. Giving credit where credit is due, the movoe stayed true to the title by managing to make it all about Judas and his weakness. On the day when he was tasked with the ultimate betrayal, Bill burst into tears just as Judas cried when he had to betray Jesus and in a way, that felt poetic.
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