Judas and the Black Messiah - 6 nominations

 

Best Motion Picture of the Year Shaka King (producer)  Charles D. King (producer)  Ryan Coogler (producer)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Daniel Kaluuya

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) H.E.R. (music by/lyric by)  D'Mile (as Dernst Emile II) (music by)  Tiara Thomas (lyric by)  For song "Fight for You"

Best Original Screenplay Will Berson (screenplay by/story by)  Shaka King (screenplay by/story by)  Kenneth Lucas (story by) (as Kenny Lucas)  Keith Lucas (story by)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - LaKeith Stanfield

Best Achievement in Cinematography - Sean Bobbitt

Thank you to IMDB for assembling this list.

Judas and the Black Messiah is a heartbreaking film following the infiltration of the Black Panthers by the CIA.  It follows two protagonists, Fred Hampton, the head of the Illinois chapter, and Bill O'Neal, a small time criminal forced into the role of informant in exchange for escape from prosecution.  The film decidedly shows how the Panthers were more than activists for societal change, but also revolutionaries who proposed the notion that a civil society takes care of its most vulnerable, and they were doing just that with food pantries, support for single mothers, and other charitable work.  And the film reminds us that after all the work that Bill O'Neal did to undermine the Panthers and to infiltrate them, he ultimately appeared to agree with their message and regretted what he had done for the rest of his life.

The cast of this film is volcanic - the two nominated actors, LaKeith Stanfield (Bill O'Neal) and Daniel Kaluuya (Fred Hampton, and formerly nominated for Get Out) are both powerful leads delivering career-making performances, and the supporting actor category is perplexing. It is not without precedent though for films to campaign for supporting role categorizations when they think there is a better chance for a win in the supporting category.  While the film is unlikely to win Best Picture, the performances by this group of actors is worth every moment of your time (including a very underused Martin Sheen as J. Edgar Hoover).

If you don't get chills listening to Fred Hampton leading a crowd chanting, "I am a revolutionary," you should have your heart checked.

I'm happy that the first movie about which I am posting is also a film "based on a true story."  It gives me the opportunity to remind my loyal readers of my yearly caution.  Narrative films are not documentaries.  Narrative filmmakers have no obligation to the facts nor the truth.  A couple of years ago, a Republican politician quoted Churchill as support for a position he was taking... a quote that turned out to be from the movie, "The Darkest Hour" and one that had been made up for the story - something that Churchill never said and in fact, reflected a position he never held.  If you are fired up by this film, I beg you to follow up with biographies, documentaries, and other accounts from those who were there, rather than taking the film narrative as gospel.  I won't continue to harp on this in other posts, but once a year I remind you of this dear readers, and I have now done so for 2021.  End of TED talk.  I have placed some superficially researched resources at the bottom of this post (meaning I haven't necessarily read the books or watched the films) for you to pursue if you loved the film.

The nominated song, "Fight For You" is not only brilliant but has a haunting drumbeat that reminds you of a heartbeat while it proclaims, "Freedom ain't free at all."  You can listen to the song here: https://youtu.be/exJq2NrAwdc

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/sSjtGqRXQ9Y

Want to know more?

Watch this! 

Amazon Prime has a documentary short called, "Death of a Black Panther: Fred Hampton"

Read this!

The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther by Jeffrey Haas

Read this!

Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers by Bobby Seale and Stephen Shames