Sundance Film Festival movie review: 'Judas and the Black Messiah'

A pair of standout performances highlight this searing look at the combustible tension between the FBI and the Black Panthers in the docudrama 'Judas and the Black Messiah' (premiering at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival).

In short: In late 1960s Chicago, street criminal William O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) becomes an FBI informant tasked to infiltrate the Illinois Black Panther Party and get close to its respected leader Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya).

'Black Messiah' has two agendas: flesh-out a complex portrait of Black Panther radical leader Hampton and the small-time-crook-turned-informant forced into helping authorities take down Hampton. While O'Neal's life sets up the story, the film's complex depiction of Hampton is what makes this film compelling.

Revealing O'Neal's fate so early on in the movie is a misstep that saps dramatic tension almost immediately. Literally the first shot of 'Black Messiah' is that of a middle-aged William O'Neal talking to a TV interviewer in the late '80s - before the movie flashes back to O'Neal's life in the late '60s. The fact that O'Neal is alive and well two decades later defuses all the possible tension of the dangers O'Neal faced as an undercover informant. The imminent danger O'Neal faces is the heart of entire scenes, wherein he has to prove his loyalty to the movement ... or be tortured and killed.

Kaluuya is undeniable as the powerful, charismatic and thoughtful Black activist. His turn as the Black Panther leader resists the typical one-dimensional caricature that only frames these activists as Black militants. He is effectively the heart and soul of 'Black Messiah' because he has to be: presenting him out as a complex and humane character only makes the film all the more tragic. While this is the story of one specific rat who betrayed one specific man, the film's macro-level message reveals the federal government's targeted domestic operation to totally destroy the Black Panther movement.

While O'Neal's character arc isn't as strong as Hampton's trajectory, Stanfield's performance cannot be praised enough. Stanfield emanates power and authority as the undercover rat ascends the Black Panther ranks - but so too does his paranoia and fear. He is a small-time crook completely out of his element and thrown in the middle between revolutionaries and the FBI. His performance radiates palpable fear and anxiety as it becomes clear his life is in danger from both sides. Stanfield in 'Black Messiah' is reminiscent of Leonardo DiCaprio in 'The Departed.' While this plot thread has been executed better in other informant-centered films, Stanfield's turn is striking.

Unfortunately these two performances feel like ships passing in the night, as Stanfield and Kaluuya share very little screen time together. This results in a film that tells two parallel stories rather than one cohesive, completely interconnected story. Yet, despite this unconventional story structure, director Shaka King succeeds in telling a story with one cohesive theme: the FBI assassinated a perceived domestic political threat. O'Neal's storyline reveals how this historically happened and Hampton's arc is a powerful portrait of what the Black Panther meant to the community and why the federal government wanted its leadership decapitated.

Final verdict: As modern politicians decry Black Lives Matter as an anti-government threat, 'Judas and the Black Messiah' resonates as a timely reminder of a time not too long ago when the federal government murdered to maintain the status quo.

Score: 4/5

'Judas and the Black Messiah' screens at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. This drama is rated R for violence and pervasive language and has a running time of 129 minutes.

Directed by Shaka King / Screenplay by Will Berson & Shaka King / Score by Craig Harris & Mark Isham / Cinematography by Sean Bobbitt / Film Editing by Kristan Sprague / Production Design by Sam Lisenco / Starring Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders & Martin Sheen.