On Friday, Feb. 12, the movie Judas and the Black Messiah was released on HBO Max and in theaters. The movie is about the Black Panther Party, and the FBI trying to stop them.
The film begins with William “Bill” O’Neal being arrested in Chicago after attempting to hijack a car while posing as a federal officer. O’Neal is approached by FBI Special Agent Roy Mitchell, who offers to drop the charges if he can infiltrate the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party.
Specifically, Mitchell wants O’Neal to get close to the chapter’s leader, Fred Hampton. O’Neal begins to get closer to Hampton while he forms alliances with rival gangs and militia groups, specifically the Rainbow Coalition. Hampton is also extending community outreach through the Party’s Free Breakfast for Children program.
Hampton also begins to fall in love with a fellow BPP member, Deborah Johnson. O’Neal continues to relay intel to Mitchell who, in return, begins to pay O’Neal for the information. A fugitive Party member, George Sams, hides out at the local office. O’Neal later learns that Sams is also an informant and Sams’ presence as a fugitive allows the FBI to obtain search warrants.
Hampton is arrested and imprisoned and O’Neal begins to move up in the ranks of the Party. O’Neal sneaks out of the office in the middle of a shootout, which eventually leads to the bombing of the office. O’Neal attempts to quit being an in- formant, but Mitchell reminds him of the charges he would be facing in prison.
Hampton is later released from prison and reunited with Johnson, who is now pregnant with his child.
Jimmy Palmer, a Party member, engages in a shootout with police and later dies after being transferred to a different hospital. Another member, Jake Winters, is outraged by Palmer’s death and engages in a shootout himself. Winters is gunned down after shooting several officers.
Hampton’s appeal gets rejected, meaning he will have to return to prison. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover orders that Hampton be neutralized before returning to prison. Mitchell corners O’Neal into helping with the plan by stating that the Party will retaliate if they find out he is an informant. O’Neal reluctantly agrees and is later handed a vial of sedatives to drug Hampton’s drink with.
The next evening, BPP members are gathered at Hampton’s party to say goodbye before Hampton has to return to prison. O’Neal drugs Hampton’s drink and departs soon after. Hours later, officers and agents raid the apartment and kill Hampton. O’Neal later meets with Mitchell who gives him more cash and keys to a gas station that he now owns.
O’Neal tries to quit again, but ends up taking the keys and money. The film ends with clips of Hampton’s speeches and his funeral procession.
The film also ends with an interview that O’Neal did in 1989. Title cards say that O’Neal remained an informant up until that interview, and later committed suicide.
Today, Fred Hampton Jr. and his mother serve as chairman and board member for the Black Panther Party Cubs.
I believe that Judas and the Black Messiah could serve as a wonderful educational type movie to watch, especially during Black History Month. The Black Panther Party is not something that is talked about in schools and is something that I never really learned about until watching this movie.
This movie gives viewers a chance to learn about something they may have never learned about before. Although it takes place in the late 1960’s, the movie also features things that are still relevant today, such as the killing of black people for no reason.
I also believe that the Black Panther Party was a prequel to the Black Lives Matter movement. The Black Panther Party was originally formed in Oakland, California to challenge police brutality. The Party later established the Free Breakfast for Children program to combat food injustice and established free health clinics for education and to combat HIV/AIDS and sickle cell anemia. The Black Panther Party is not a topic of discussion in history classes because the party is sometimes described as more of a criminal group than anything else.
My only criticism of the movie is that I feel it contained too much filler instead of just including the main plot points. However, the movie is based off of a true story and without the filler, the movie may not have been as impactful.
