History class is in session once again at the multiplex (although like most schools, you can participate virtually). Last month we were treated to a bit of a primer (or in the film biz, a prequel) with ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI. This weekend’s new release jumps ahead only five years or so, but it may resonate even more since February is Black History Month. And it can also be considered a sequel, or really a “companion piece” to one of the most critically praised films of last year, since they both share a historical figure (or would “bookends” be the right term). And, as the title suggests, this is a near-biblical true fable of deception, ambition, and murder. But its setting is not the Holy Land many centuries past, but in the brutal Windy City streets just over fifty years ago, the home of JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH.

After a brief late 1980s prologue, the story quickly shifts in reverse, 20 years to profile a barely out-of-high school hustler/conman named Bill O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield). His latest “scam”, posing as a federal agent (FBI this time) to shake down a guy at a local bar and grab the keys to his new convertible. But that night his luck runs out as the cops arrive just blocks away from his “raid”. In the station’s interrogation room Bill is confronted by a real “G-Man”, ambitious FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons). Roy’s boss, the very top “cop”, J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) is determined to stop the “urban agitators”, so Mitchell has an idea. After telling O’Neal that’s he’s looking at 18 months for Grand Theft Auto plus an additional five years for impersonating an officer, Roy offers a deal. Those charges can “go away” if Bill joins the Black Panthers and informs them of the operations of the head of its local chapter, Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). With his back against the wall, he reluctantly agrees. Due to his auto skills, O’Neal could apply to become Hampton’s personal driver, since the police would pull him over for constant harassment if Fred was behind the wheel. The story cuts to scenes of the enigmatic Hampton as he helps to provide free meals to needy kids, and works to unite other disenfranchised groups (the Young Patriots, the Crowns, the SDS, and others) to fight police brutality and corruption. Aside from the authorities, Hampton’s fiery speeches also attract the attention of a politically active college student, Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback), and the two become romantically involved. As the tensions mount, Hoover puts more pressure on Mitchell to stop Hampton’s rise to fame. It all then comes down to O’Neal. Can he set up his mentor before he’s found out and silenced for good?

A strong talented cast brings this piece of history to vibrant life starting with the character at the top of the title. Stanfield instills a real emotional complexity into O’Neal, showing us a most conflicted “traitor”. His Bill is on the road to a career of quick cons until his avarice turns him into a silver ball in a deadly pinball game, bouncing from the feds to the Panthers, always struggling to stay in play. While attending an early Hampton speech, Stanfield silently shows us a man in turmoil, caught up in the passion, but trying to push his emotions down. Later O’Neal makes the mistake of believing that he matters to his contacts and that they will embrace him into their ranks (he yearns for a legit badge). But his “wake-up call” will leave his soul forever crushed. As for the second part of the title, Kaluuya is convincingly magnetic as Hampton, with a fiery charisma that fills up any space, from an auditorium to the tiny Panther back office. He doesn’t win all of the audience (an early speech inspires many “walk-offs’), but his Hampton doesn’t want to “sugarcoat” his tone to win more converts. With his eyes constantly surveying the situation, Kaluuya shows us that Hampton knows that danger is always everywhere and that his time is precious. Luckily Fishback’s Johnson helps reveal more of his human side as she challenges him at first,  but then becomes the tender emotional support he doesn’t know he desperately needs. She clings to him with that same sense of mortality that drives Hampton’s every waking moment. Then there’s the devil, the tempter Mitchell who is played with silky passive-aggressive calculation by Plemons. At first, dangling the promise of freedom before Bill, then rewarding him with cash and cars, only to snatch it away when Bill’s well of intel begins to run dry. Plemon’s fed is truly a smiling “cobra’, but he barely holds a candle to the seething hatred of his master Hoover who is given venomous life by the inspired (he’s been involved in so many social movements and protests) casting of Sheen. There are no little “winks” to J.Edgar’s rumored private “kinks”, rather the focus is on the controlling puppet-master he became during that turbulent time. A scene in which he shows his true colors to Mitchell, spewing his twisted fear of “race-mixing” is “squirm-inducing” and chilling in his cold-blooded delivery.

Director Shake King, working from the screenplay he co-wrote with Kenneth and Keith Lucas along with Will Berson give the story an immediacy as though the events are unfolding just around the corner (perhaps due to the BLM protests just a few months ago). The streets of Chicago become a deadly maze as each turn holds a new threat for the main characters. Tension is always in the air, giving great power to the scenes of sudden violence. And in those pre-cellphone video days, the efforts of the police are more brazen. Officers make no effort to hide the gas can as they storm the Panthers’ HQ before setting it ablaze. The “bookend” I mentioned earlier is last year’s THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, in which Hampton also appears. Here it is referenced via a sketch of a gagged and shackled Bobby Seale. This film builds on that atmosphere of fear and oppression building to a sickening crescendo with that final early-morning raid turned execution. The pacing is tight thanks to the sharp editing of Kristen Sprague. The only moment that seemed a bit wonky was Hampton’s fairly quick embrace by the mainly white (that Confederate flag is prominent) ex-Southerners, the Young Patriots, though it certainly took more time than the film could spare (the old “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” adage). But the late 60s are faithfully re-created from fashions to autos and hairstyles as the storytelling crackles with energy. Though we’re only a couple of months in, I’m certain that many “best of the year” lists will have a spot for JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH.

3.5 out of 4

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH opens in select theatres and streams for a limited time exclusively on HBO Max beginning Friday, February 12, 2021