Judas and the Black Messiah is the latest film by Director Shaka King. While this isn't exactly his directorial debut, this is only his second full length feature film and is certainly his most noteworthy. Other than a spattering of TV episodes and a couple short films over the last 8 years, King's previous work as a Director was Newlyweeds. He directed 5 episodes of the one-season sci-fi comedy People of Earth which I thought was a clever, witty, dark comedy and was disappointed it didn't get more seasons. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, he brings us Judas and the Black Messiah that is nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
William "Bill" O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) is caught stealing a car and assaulting a Federal Agent. He is given a choice: several years in prison, or become an FBI informant. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) sees the Black Panther Party as the biggest threat in America and commands the FBI to take down their charismatic leader, Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). With his FBI handler, Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons), keeping close tabs on him, O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois Black Panthers to keep tabs on Hampton.
O'Neal is torn. As he gets closer to the Panthers, he realizes they are not terrorists. They are good people trying to do the right thing and stand up against racist oppression. The FBI doesn't see it that way and he is told that Hampton must be taken down by any means necessary. Things get tense as the Panthers suspect a rat in their midst and O'Neal struggles between his morals and his duty.
Daniel Kaluuya burst onto the scene in 2017 with his outstanding performance in the twisted thriller Get Out. He is nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Black Messiah. LaKeith Stanfield has been around, but this is definitely his most prominent role to date. He is nominated for Best Actor.
I honestly don't know what to expect from Judas and the Black Messiah. I mean, I can easily deduce that O'Neal is Judas and Hampton is the Messiah from the title. I can tell this will be an emotionally charged film about the racial tensions in the late 1960's in Chicago. Malcolm X was shot and killed in 1965, only 100 years after the 13th Amendment officially ended slavery. Martin Luther King JR. was shot and killed just a few years later in 1968. I know that films like this are never comfortable to watch. As a society, we never enjoy being reminded of how horribly we've treated people in our country's history. Partially because it's such an ugly time in our past, and also because we still have a long way to go.
Like I said, I enjoyed King's recent work on the TV series People of Earth, but Black Messiah is neither sci-fi nor comedy. I enjoyed Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out, but this is not a thriller. It's a heavy and relevant topic. Now, if someone like Quentin Tarantino was directing it, you could be sure it was overly bloody and irreverently and uncomfortably funny. But it's not Tarantino. I will say that one of the things I love about Oscar season is that I push myself to see movies I normally wouldn't necessarily be inclined to watch on my own. Trying to see all the Best Film nominees pushing me to explore just the ones I think I would personally find entertaining based on the previews. That being said, it does make it a little difficult to predict ratings for these kinds of films, especially with how my personal rating scale works.
So, I am going to cautiously predict 3.5 Stars for Judas and the Black Messiah. I think it will be powerful, emotional, well-acted and a tough look at our country's ugly recent history. I have my doubts about whether I'll want to watch it again or add it to my permanent collection, however. So, am I right? We shall see . . .
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