Judas and the Black Messiah

⭐ 9.5/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This was our MLK Day movie of choice and honestly for the purposes of education I think it was a good one. The Black Panthers were perhaps not an MLK organization, but they are an important part of black history and I had ZERO knowledge of this specific story. It follows a mole in the Black Panther party who was feeding information to the FBI for the purposes of trying to take down the charismatic revolutionary Fred Hampton. Hampton, by the way, was 21 during the events of this movie. TWENTY ONE! I was in my parents basement playing lotro for 6 hours a day when I was 21.

Hampton is also played by Daniel Kaluuya who won an Oscar for his performance, and honestly is one of the most compelling performances I've ever seen in my life. Nobody was born to play a role more than Kaluuya was to play Hampton. He completely makes this movie. Within a minute of his first speech I was ready to fight for the cause. He was so good that any time he wasn't on screen it felt like a waste. Really incredible stuff.

This movie is about 3 main characters and they do a nice job of fleshing each one out, making them seem human and giving them understandable motivations. It's 3 crossing interests, and throughout they movie there are definitely moments where you are cheering for each. Obviously the white FBI agent is the bad guy but even there I appreciate that they didn't go with the comically racist trope, but rather a guy who was a little more measured. Also Jesse Plemons rocks.

*Vague spoilers* Because this is a true story that happened in America, you can imagine the outcome. This movie plays with your emotions for two hours and then delivers a massive punch to your gut. The bad guy always wins. This is not a feel good movie, but still a valuable one. I feel like I learned a lot about the side of the Panthers that wasn't guns and riots. This movie is awesome and I'm glad I finally watched it.