Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

 This is a good companion film to Trial of the Chicago Seven but despite taking place during the same time period, Bobby Seale is not a character in this film nor is the trial mentioned, for whatever reason.

Here, Bill O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) chooses to become an informant for the FBI, rather than go to prison, infiltrating the Black Panthers organization and befriending the Chairman, the young Fred Hampton (the excellent Daniel Kaluuya) all the while informing his handler, the sneakily racist  Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) the secrets on how the organization runs and how Fred gets so many minority groups to band together against the incredibly trigger happy, ultra-violent cops of the city. And there is plenty of violence in this film, most of it completely unnecessary and unacceptable as it was unprovoked. 

But despite Bill looking out for himself in the beginning he eventually does truly appreciate and respect the Panthers and is reluctant to continue, though he does, because he doesn't want to go to jail and while other members in different branches uncover 'rats' ironically enough no one suspects Bill to be a rat. Which I don't understand, I mean, he left during the middle of a raid but redeems himself by rebuilding the headquarters, with help from the community. 

While the ending packs a powerful emotional punch, the script is a bit crazy, never figuring out if the lead is Fred or Bill which is problematic. Still, the performances are superb, with creative editing and excellent score so the film is still a must-see. Grade: B+

Side Notes:

-Dominique Fishback is great in her smaller role of Fred's girlfriend and mother of his child. She survives at the end, thank goodness.

-Pay attention for good actors Ashton Sanders and Algee Smith in smaller roles of Black Panthers, who kill cops and get killed in return.

-Fred decides to avoid fleeing the country and urges the money raised to go to a hospital to help save people. How terribly mature for the young man. 

-I don't understand how the murder of Fred Hampton was deemed justified. He was asleep in his bed, drugged to the point of being unable to wake up. His only crime was wishing for equally for years. Breonna Taylor's was the same.