BEFORE: I've fallen a bit behind on my posting, but not on my movie-watching - OK, I fell behind ONE night, but I'm back to current, because before I was starting movies the night BEFORE the date I was counting them, now I'm watching the same day, but I'd like to double-up and get back ahead of the count, it just makes it easier to stay on track. Too many shifts at the theater makes that difficult, but it's film festival time and I have to get as many shifts as I can, to make up for missing two weeks in May, and the fact that the theater will closed in July. Whew, I'm exhausted just explaining that.
I'm also behind on Black History month, which I know is in February, only February is when I tend to watch romance films, and it's hard to find common ground there, romance wins out and then I play catch-up on Black History later. I got into a Latino groove in April with "Encanto", "Vivo" and "In the Heights", but the linking just hasn't taken me in an African-American direction yet this year, it's not intentional, I assure you. But here's a film about the Black Panthers tonight, then after Father's Day I should have some more material with documentaries about Dick Gregory, Rick James and that "Summer of Soul" concert. After the rock doc block, I'm planning an Idris Elba chain, one is that film where he plays Nelson Mandela, then I'll link to the film about Venus and Serena Williams, but that's as far as I can predict at the moment.
Daniel Kaluuya carries over from "Welcome to the Punch".
FOLLOW-UP TO: "The Trial of the Chicago 7" (Movie #3,810)
THE PLOT: Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.
AFTER: I'm so behind that I haven't even finished watching all the Oscar-nominated films from LAST year, let alone THIS year. "Judas and the Black Messiah" won two Oscars in 2021, Best Original Song and Best Supporting Actor for Daniel Kaluuya - it was a bit weird that both he and Lakeith Stanfield were nominated for Best Supporting Actor, which implies that neither was the lead actor in the film, but if they weren't, then who WAS? But the Academy lets each actor pick which category they can compete in, which sounds to me like a bad policy. Perhaps a neutral party should have to watch each film and determine whether a performance should qualify as a leading role or a supporting role. It would have made sense (to me, anyway) to put Lakeith Stanfield in the Lead Actor category and keep Daniel Kaluuya in the Supporting Actor category, because that would double the film's chance of winning an Oscar, create the possibility that they BOTH could win in different categories, and then two actors from the same film wouldn't have to compete against each other - but what the hell do I know? Nobody listens to me...
I was not familiar with the story of Fred Hampton, or Bill O'Neal, who was arrested for stealing cars and impersonating an FBI agent while doing so. The Feds reduced his sentence in exchange for him going undercover in the Chicago Black Panthers and providing them with information. The Black Panthers were basically a volunteer-based organization, and probably lacked the resources to do proper background checks on volunteers. O'Neal not only gained Hampton's trust but became his driver (with a car provided by the FBI) and eventually head of security for the chapter. Yes, the mole in the organization was put in charge of security, and therefore was responsible for determining whether there were any moles in the organization. It might be funny if it weren't so ironic, or perhaps the other way around.
Fred Hampton tried to unite the rival gangs and militias in Chicago, the Crowns and the Young Patriots and the Young Lords - this was kind of the original Rainbow Coalition before Jesse Jackson formed his. O'Neal reported Hampton's plans to his FBI handler, who reported them to J. Edgar Hoover (played here by Martin Sheen). Hoover somehow got Hampton arrested and imprisoned for stealing ice cream bars, and in his absence, a shoot-out with the Chicago Police occurred at the Black Panther Party headquarters. O'Neal was on-site but snuck out, then after the members inside surrendered, the cops firebombed it. O'Neal then attempted to quit his role as an informant, but his handler wouldn't let him go, the intelligence being received about the Black Panthers was too valuable.
O'Neal was stuck in a terrible position, he couldn't quit as an informant without risking prosecution and jail, and he couldn't reveal his status to the Black Panthers, because he feared their punishment would be even worse. Hampton was released on appeal, but eventually had to return to prison, however Hoover felt that more prison time would only increase Hampton's profile as a martyr to the black cause, like Huey P. Newton, MLK and Malcolm X. So O'Neal was then asked to supply information about the layout of Hampton's apartment, so the FBI could carry out what was, essentially, an assassination. The title says it all - there's basically a Biblical precedent for all of this, just with the FBI playing the role of the Roman Empire, O'Neal as Judas and J. Edgar Hoover as Pontius Pilate.
For his trouble, O'Neal received money and the keys to a gas station, instead of thirty pieces of silver. His involvement in the raid was revealed in 1973, and he entered the Federal Witness Protection Program, but returned from California to Chicago in 1984. He committed suicide in January 1990, the same night that a TV documentary named "Eyes on the Prize" aired and revealed his recruitment by the FBI in 1968. A lawsuit over the death of Hampton and Mark Clark, another Panther's leader, was filed against the FBI in 1970 and was settled 12 years later, for $1.85 million. So there's that.
Also starring Lakeith Stanfield (last seen in "Straight Outta Compton"), Jesse Plemons (last seen in "Jungle Cruise"), Dominique Fishback (last seen in "Project Power"), Ashton Sanders (last seen in "Captive State"), Algee Smith (last seen in "The Hate U Give"), Darrell Britt-Gibson (last seen in "Just Mercy"), Lil Rel Howery (last seen in "Free Guy"), Dominique Thorne (last seen in "If Beale Street Could Talk"), Martin Sheen (last seen in "Selma"), Amari Cheatom (last seen in "Roman J. Israel, Esq."), Khris Davis, Ian Duff, Caleb Eberhardt, Robert Longstreet (last seen in "Ain't Them Bodies Saints"), Amber Chardae Robinson (last seen in "Stuber"), Ikechukwu Ufomadu, James Udom, Nick Fink, Mell Bowser, Alysia Joy Powell, Nicholas Velez, AJ Carr, Terayle Hill (last seen in "Willy's Wonderland"), Crystal Lee Brown (last seen in "Hidden Figures"), Graham Lutes, Tyra Joy Smith, Tone Tank, James Bruner, Winston Haynes, Aaron Kleiber, Brian Bowman (last seen in "Acts of Violence"), Cooper Bucha, Jermaine Fowler (last seen in "Coming 2 America"), with archive footage of Fred Hampton, Huey P. Newton, Angela Davis (last seen in "Malcolm X"), Bobby Seale (ditto) and the voice of Malcolm X (last seen in "Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President")
RATING: 6 out of 10 guns in the glove compartment
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