Judas and the Black Messiah, 2021 - ★★★★

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (Shaka King, USA, 2021) 8 V

When a film displays the Official Great-Man Biopic Seal (real-life footage over the credits), my reflex is to distrust it as hagiography. But if the film portrays the person’s warts — real ones, not “warts” we’ve transvalued — and integrates them into the drama, I trust it.

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH does both and is a ripping entertainment to boot, a flip side to Spike Lee’s FBI infiltration film BLACKKKLANSMAN. There, the KKK was targeted; here, it’s the Black Panthers, especially Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), its Chicago chairman betrayed by petty-criminal-turned-plant William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield). The title and the clear analogy might seem a little excessive even to Panther acolytes, but the film transcends...

Proper Review
Nov 15th 2021
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