I have heard many people talk about Judas and the Black Messiah commenting that it has reinvented the biopic and played with tropes of the medium; I don’t think this is nessecerilly true. I think Judas is a film that tells its story truthfully, dynamically and viscerally playing into the tropes of the smaller time spanning biopic that we have seen multiple times before. However who ever said that was a bad thing? I feel sorry for the many excellent biopics that have had their own genre tarnished in name by the glut of shoddy and obnoxious farces that we often get delivered, when there is something to be said about the notion of truth being stranger than fiction, or in this case truth being more powerful than fiction. If a biopic is well made it can be masterful, and in many regards Judas is a pretty damn masterful.

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Telling the story of an undercover informant for the FBI positioned within the Black Panther party around the period of the late 60’s, Judas and the Black Messiah paints a wonderfully taut portrayal of the tension and deep human drama that goes into the nature of being an informant through a deftly developed screenplay by director Shaka King and Will Berson, along with an ensemble of genuinely exceptional performances, and a clearly distinctive notion of how this story can be told focussing on a sincerity of emotion rather than a litany of forced false ones. Subject matter aside the film does remind a lot of Spike Lee’s aesthetic with its usage and incorporation within montage of real life footage, interview based and otherwise. One particular subversion of footage we have already seen hits home so powerfully in the films conclusion that it really does take one for a loop. Perhaps it is the powerful and interesting nature of the information, but this film too seems to elevate and make better the usually droll closing selection of title cards illuminating the places our characters went on to following the plot of the film.  At every stage in his film King manages to offer exposition and plot in ingenious and intriguing ways, always keeping the film moving at the rapid pace that it does go at, never allowing also for either tension or romantic drama to not be present in the films ‘slower’ moments and scenes. This of course is solidified in the cut by editor Kristan Sprague who capitalises multiple times on the films time jumps, further adding a notable handling of how this kind of film would work best in its crafting. The film is also shot by Sean Bobbitt, who adds a grit and skill to the film at all points. The film really is a stunningly well made and very accomplished as a debut for King, its director.

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The film also knows what it has when it comes to its two lead performances, an absolutely smashing pair of contrasting powerhouse turns from both Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton and LaKeith Stanfield as Bill O’Neal. Kaluuya as Hampton is powerful, moving, rousing and delicate in his portrayal of a figure known by so many in his words and his visual. Kaluuya does what the best do in this case and imbues a pure sense of realism and character whilst all the while incorporating the elements that are so immediately knowable of the man. Kaluuya has crafted a sincere and deeply powerful portrayal here and deserves all the acclaim in the world for it, but perhaps is thwarted by the clear and almost objective triumph of the film; Stanfield. Stanfield as Neal is the clearly harder role and Stanfield’s performance elevates brilliant material to a whole different level. It is the far subtler character and in that sense and narrativley O’Neal must too blend into the background. The power of Stanfield in the film is that even in these background moments, such a radiant energy of anixiety and inner pain is exuded that he simply cannot be ignored. Although this is undoubtedly Kaluuya and Stanfield’s movie in the performance department, Jesse Plemmons and Martin Sheen are wonderfully conceived as the films pair of villainous yet human (well less so with Sheen’s Hoover) members of the FBI. Plemmons really is just one of our finest talents and every single performance, no matter how small or large just solidifies it even more for me in my mind. Every element of Judas however solidifies for me the sort of future (and immediately present) talent we are dealing with, from the most minor players to the those bringing the most to the film, Judas really may be the dark horse of this Oscar race, or at least I hope and feel that it deserves to be.

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A deeply powerful and exceptionally thrilling 8/10 drama that frequently pivots on a fine line of thoughtful politics and genuine human emotion. In a year of truly wonderful directorial debuts, King’s may very well be the best of them, telling the story of Hampton and Neal with an almost ungodly talented handle on tone, plotting and ensemble. Judas and the Black Messiah is a truly sensational film that gets right to the core of a deeply intriguing period of time and a few very specific people who walked through it, in the shadows and in the spotlight.

P.S. Also, let’s not fail to mention the power of a great title. So many times I feel we fail to mention the exceptional titles we get sometimes, this being one of them. Great damn title.

-        -  Thomas Carruthers