For many of us, our introduction to Black Panther Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton began with his bullet-riddled body, a blood-soaked mattress, and a frigid winter night in Chicago. The then- 21-year-old revolutionary was a pillar in one of America's most segregated cities and in the fight for Black justice overall. In Shaka King's Judas and the Black Messiah, Hampton's (Daniel Kalyuua) brilliance, strength, and charisma are realized. While the film highlights the forces that eventually snuffed out his life, his legacy burns eternal.
Set in 1968, Judas does not open with Hampton, but instead, with William O'Neil (LaKeith Stanfield), a low-level criminal who, after finding himself in the clutches of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), infiltrates the Panthers and weasels his way into Hampton's inner circle. Previous films and documentaries have shown snippets of the Illinois Black Panther Party during this violate time in the country's history. However, this film is perhaps the most complete portrait of who Hampton was as a man, a revolutionary, and an expectant father.
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