My Take on the film ” Judas and the Black Messiah”
The good news is that this film although “dramatized” actually does an excellent job of portraying Black Panther Party members like never before..Many people who were in the movement both “Panther” and SNCC people are still reeling over the insulting cartoon like way 60s Black militants were portrayed in the film “Black Klansman”…And it’s barely worth it to mention the horrible Mario Van Pebbles film “Panther”..a true insulting cinema joke. AS a person who was there, and worked at Panther chapters in several cities ..”Judas and the Black Messiah” take on the people and lifestyle of Panthers in many cities like Chicago was very familiar. The real story though is about the “Judas”…the FBI plant in the chapter. There were many of these people ..Usually people who were criminals targeted by FBI agents who agreed to join the BPP in order to get a reduced sentence or sometimes just for pay. It was complex. And they found many ways to disrupt or even destroy some Panther chapters. It helped the film that William “Bill” O’Neal the real life “informant” portrayed in the film sat down for the documentary “Eyes on the Prize II” and told his story in detail…Liberties are taken with O’neal’s role..but the film pretty much nailed it..I could not watch the film in one sitting I literally had moments of PTSD ..when the informant suggested they “bomb” a building ..showing up with military explosive. This kind of thing actually happened a lot…We were young…the average age for a Panther member in those days was about 21…Many times ..the person who showed up with M-16s or high explosives ..or in my case a way to get into and rob an armory…almost always turned out to be informants. It took getting “burned” or having a friend killed or arrested to learn this painful lesson..We even had Party members accused of being informants ..who were punished and or killed by people who were themselves the real informants. All of that came back while I watched this film It was painful…The story gave a fairly accurate picture of Hampton..writers got him perfectly ..Particularly his efforts to unite poor Whites , Black people and Hispanics into a single movement….this is what made Fred Hampton so dangerous…..why he had to go. His “Rainbow Coalition” scared the FBI to death…But the movie was really about the informant and the sick relationship he had with his FBI “handler” I had to watch the second half of the film late last night ..alone at about 4 am. The gun battles…the detailed descriptions of cruelty done to suspected informants it all came back to me….But on the other hand I wish they had shown more of the day to day life..the communal living, the comradery …which we only see bits and pieces of..But for the most part better than anyone else has ever done…this film captures a time in my life.. a time in American history with respect to the people who lived it…warts and all …”Judas and the Black Messiah,” SEE IT
Follow
