Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.
- Won 2 Oscars
- 45 wins & 85 nominations total
Featured reviews
Back to a time where The FBI, led by J Edgar Hoover is more concerned with The Black Panthers, than the Russians and Chinese. A car thief is corrected into infiltrating The Organisation and reporting back.
This is an incredibly powerful story, a fascinating point in America's history. This film is not afraid to show the violence, racism and prejudice that was very real. It doesn't shy away from showing the brutality, the misery faced by people of colour.
Uncomfortable at times, but it's a gripping watch, this film will hold your attention throughout, it's one of those that passes by, without you questioning the running time.
Shaka King's direction is spot on, this film moves by at a real pace. The cinematography and music are phenomenal, especially the latter.
Daniel Kaluuya, he's one of those people I'm convinced will one day own a string of Oscars, an awe inspiring actor, and naturally he does it again here with a spellbinding performance. Huge credit also to LaKeith Stanfield, marvellous also.
I figure this film may not be to everyone's taste, but I'd certainly recommend it, it really does tell a powerful story. It's inspired me to do a little research and reading of my own.
9/10.
This is an incredibly powerful story, a fascinating point in America's history. This film is not afraid to show the violence, racism and prejudice that was very real. It doesn't shy away from showing the brutality, the misery faced by people of colour.
Uncomfortable at times, but it's a gripping watch, this film will hold your attention throughout, it's one of those that passes by, without you questioning the running time.
Shaka King's direction is spot on, this film moves by at a real pace. The cinematography and music are phenomenal, especially the latter.
Daniel Kaluuya, he's one of those people I'm convinced will one day own a string of Oscars, an awe inspiring actor, and naturally he does it again here with a spellbinding performance. Huge credit also to LaKeith Stanfield, marvellous also.
I figure this film may not be to everyone's taste, but I'd certainly recommend it, it really does tell a powerful story. It's inspired me to do a little research and reading of my own.
9/10.
I had no idea any of this actually happened, so it's great that a film was made about this. This is a powerful film that I would highly recommend.
I haven't written a review in awhile, but felt compelled to do so because numerous reviews complaining about the movie as some sort of failed Fred Hampton biopic...
The movie is titled JUDAS and the Black Messiah, in which we should all be able to discern who's whom, and understand why the movie isn't just about Fred Hampton, so all of you with your fake woke-ness can stop talking about how shallow this movie is or how they didn't do enough, and then counterintuitively discredit this accomplishment of a film about an important part of the U.S. history!
The FBI, led by J. Edgar Hoover, is focused on taking down the Black Panther Party and other leftist movements. Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) pushes car thief Bill O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) to be his informant and to infiltrate the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. It is led by charismatic Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) who is trying to improve Chicago and battle the racist police force.
There is an obvious connection to today's events. It's of its time and the present-day time. It's definitely taking a point of view but one can't really argue against it. For sure, it's slanted. Roy Mitchell is the key to finding balance but Jesse Plemons doesn't give him enough depth. He has one fascinating talk about Emmett Till. That's an interesting road to go for that character but it feels like he stops short. He turns into just another callous racist cop when he could be deeper. As for the other characters, Stanfield is the standout and Kaluuya is the saint. Both are great in their roles. This is a very compelling story and its relevance makes it more powerful.
There is an obvious connection to today's events. It's of its time and the present-day time. It's definitely taking a point of view but one can't really argue against it. For sure, it's slanted. Roy Mitchell is the key to finding balance but Jesse Plemons doesn't give him enough depth. He has one fascinating talk about Emmett Till. That's an interesting road to go for that character but it feels like he stops short. He turns into just another callous racist cop when he could be deeper. As for the other characters, Stanfield is the standout and Kaluuya is the saint. Both are great in their roles. This is a very compelling story and its relevance makes it more powerful.
Amazing acting n top notch cinematography.
From the beginning and as the synopsis suggest, we as audiences are already informed about the ending but the real deal is the way it happened in reality, that really shook me up man.
This movie aint par with The Trial of the Chicago 7 as far as entertainment is concerned but it is definitely very informative and made me read about the trials n tribulations the African Americans faced. These fellas are the true champions of everything in life.
From the beginning and as the synopsis suggest, we as audiences are already informed about the ending but the real deal is the way it happened in reality, that really shook me up man.
This movie aint par with The Trial of the Chicago 7 as far as entertainment is concerned but it is definitely very informative and made me read about the trials n tribulations the African Americans faced. These fellas are the true champions of everything in life.
Director Shaka King on 'Judas and the Black Messiah'
Director Shaka King on 'Judas and the Black Messiah'
IMDbPro teamed up with the Sundance Film Festival to spotlight some of the talented artists at the 2021 festival. Learn more about Judas and the Black Messiah and the artist behind the camera, Shaka King, in our spotlight interview series.
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Shaka King has described the initial idea for the film as "Les Infiltrés (2006) inside the world of COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program)." He thought it was a clever way to "sort of Trojan-horse a Fred Hampton biopic and introduce the world, you know, a great segment of the world who is unaware of who he was, and is highly unaware of the Panthers' politics and ideology."
- GoofsThe movie's ending sequence includes an information card implying that William O'Neal committed suicide after his PBS interview aired, on 15 January 1990. That isn't accurate. The PBS series 'Eyes on the Prize' did debut on that date, but the O'Neal interview did not air until 9 February, three and a half weeks after O'Neal's suicide. No one knows why O'Neal chose kill himself on 15 January, and his family disputed that his traffic fatality was a suicide. They claimed it was an accident.
- Quotes
Fred Hampton: Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed
- SoundtracksThe Inflated Tear
Written by Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $26,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $5,478,009
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,027,076
- Feb 14, 2021
- Gross worldwide
- $7,478,009
- Runtime
- 2h 6m(126 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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