Page 12 - MidWeek - March 3, 2021

10 MIDWEEK MARCH 3, 2021
Rotten
A Master Class In Acting
BY CHRIS MCKINNEY
PAPAYAS
If February weren’t the shortest month of the year, it’ d still be Black History Month. We all know about Malcolm X, Medgar Evers and, of course, Martin Luther King Jr. Unwavering men murdered during their herculean quests for equality. A name not nearly as well-known is Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers. The new fea- ture film based on his short life and death, Judas and the Black Messiah, fixes to change that.
Judas and the Black Messi- ah portrays the FBI’s efforts to silence Hampton, and si- lence him for good. Agent Roy Mitchell, played deftly by Jesse Plemons, employs a two-bit car thief, Bill O’Neal, to infiltrate the Black Panthers in Chicago. What follows is cringe-worthy. The film de- scends into a slow spiral of government wielding its full and terrible power to destroy a man completely while simul-
free breakfast programs for children and building bridges with disenfranchised Southern whites and Puerto Ricans.
tal shootouts with law enforce- ment. Hampton was danger- ous — not because he carried a gun, but because he powerful- ly inspired and incited. How- ever, his cause feels righteous at its core. He’s a Black man living in thoroughly redlined Chicago in the 1960s. MLK has just been assassinated. The FBI wants to literally end him. Hampton is not an enraged suburbanite. Socioeconomic setting matters when it comes
to outrage credibility. Obviously, this film is
are so strong that, for me, the conscious parallels dwindled as the story moved forward, and my face inched closer to the television. I never felt like I was being lectured. What I be- came focused on is a moving film with two men putting on a master class in acting.
Judas and the Black Messi- ah is currently in theaters and available on HBO Max.
chrismckinney808@gmail.com
Daniel Kaluuya stars in Judas and the Black Messiah. PHOTO COURTESY JOEL C. RYAN/INVISION/AP
The business end of this movie is actor Daniel Kaluuya. The year is young, but this is the most powerful performance I’ve seen in 2021. His Hamp- ton is loaded with wit, charm, tenderness and absolutely stirring conviction. It can’t be easy playing a larger-than-life character, a “messiah,” and Kaluuya slays it. He is utterly convincing as a man who can movingly preach a radical, militant agenda while offering
The Judas in this story, O’Neal, played by Lakeith Stanfield, also cannot be overlooked. It’s through his eyes that we see the story un- fold, and as the FBI demands more from him, we witness the excruciating, deliberate crushing of this flawed man’s soul. He knows what he’s do- ing is wrong, but he can’t get out from under. Stanfield may not get as many accolades as Kaluuya simply because of the nature of the characters that they play, but his performance is so good that ironically, it’s sometimes hard to watch.
packed with political state- ments, and it has been released during a time in which many people are fatigued with all things political. Honestly, I had a tough time going to HBO Max and clicking play. However, I’m glad I did. Even though the parallels between this story and what’s been on the news are impossible to ignore, the performances
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Set in late 1960s Chicago,
taneously crushing the soul of another. This is not an escapist film. It is mightily tragic.
To writer-director Shaka King’s credit, the movie does not shy away from the fact that Hampton declared that African Americans were at war with the police. It does not bury the fact that the Black Panthers were an armed, militant group of radicals who engaged in fa-
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