Programme Notes

Programme Notes Monday 14th June 7.30pm Judas and the Black Messiah (15) The phrase ‘Black messiah’ are the words of the then director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen), who saw African-American militants as the gravest internal threat to national security and feared the emergence of a popular, crowd-inspiring national leader. In Shaka King’s tense 1960s historical drama, William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) is a petty criminal, arrested in Chicago and offered that if he becomes an FBI informant, charges against him will be dropped. He joins the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, rising to become their head of security. O’Neal’s counterpart — the target of his betrayal and of the government’s lethal hostility — is Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois Panthers. As Hampton, Daniel Kaluuya takes up the burden of incarnating both the monster of Hoover’s imagination and a martyr of the Black Power movement. King has said of Hampton: ‘he came into this world fully realized. He knew what he was doing at a very young age’. Whereas of O’Neal, ‘he is in a conflict; he’s confused. And that’s always going to make for a more interesting protagonist. [We wanted] to humanize him as well so that viewers of the film could leave the movie wondering, “Is there any of that in me?”’. Both LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya were nominated for awards for their performances (curiously, both as supporting actors) and Kaluuya won the Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Supporting Actor. REVIEWS This fiercely watchable and passionately performed drama from the director Shaka King, with barnstorming performances from Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya … Kaluuya is Hampton himself, a little bulked up, and superbly conveying the muscular force of his charisma, his rhetoric and his instinctive leadership, and he brilliantly turns on the death-ray of Hampton’s basilisk stare. And Stanfield gives us a career-best performance as poor William O’Neal, wonderfully cast as the ordinary guy who gets in over his head: Stanfield’s gentle face, often breaking into a slippery but charming smile, is enough to break your heart. Dominique Fishback is surely in line for a best supporting actress Oscar, with her sensitive, sympathetic performance as Fred’s partner Deborah Johnson. Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian Shaka King’s audacious biopic imagines this episode as both a neo-noir thriller and a parable of biblical tragedy … The dual roles of Judas and Messiah are assigned to LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya, who embody these archetypes in career-defining performances … Kaluuya, an actor of innate magnetism, fully disappears into Hampton … This role is a huge step up for him in a quick march towards becoming one of the finest actors of his generation ... As the tragedy unfolds, the confidence and style of King’s filmmaking doubles down. The composition of each moment is thoughtful and beautiful with eerie fluorescence and dynamic camerawork adding to the film’s electric atmosphere … Electrifying, urgent, life-changing cinema. Leila Latif, Little White Lies Craig Harris and Mark Isham work in musical harmony with Sean Bobbitt’s gorgeous cinematography, providing suspicious melancholy chords, angular percussion and prowling double bass riffs that intertwine with the action. Meanwhile, Sam Lisenco, Jeremy Woolsey and Rebecca Brown ensure that the production design draws us deep into the period setting. It all adds up to a gripping drama that is both substantial and satisfying. Mark Kermode, The Observer Cast Crew Daniel Kaluuya Fred Hampton Director Shaka King LaKeith Stanfield Bill O’Neal Writers Will Berson, Shaka King, Kenneth Lucas, Keith Dominique Fishback Deborah Johnson Lucas Jesse Plemons Roy Mitchell Producers Ryan Coogler, Charles D Martin Sheen J Edgar Hoover King, Shaka King Ashton Sanders Jimmy Palmer Cinematography Sean Bobbit Algee Smith Jake Winters Editing Kristan Sprague Music Craig Harris, Mark Isham Film Facts The Black Panthers’ ten-point programme, penned by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in 1966, outlined goals that resonate deeply today (‘We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people’) and others that were certain to court controversy (‘We want all Black men to be exempt from military service’ and ‘We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails’). Set between 1968 and 1969, Shaka King’s film spotlights Fred Hampton’s accomplishments during his brief tenure as chapter chairman. Key to Hampton’s legacy were the Panthers’ survival programmes, which sought to provide access to ‘fundamental elements of life’. Among other offerings, the organization opened free health clinics, provided free breakfasts for children, and hosted political education classes that emphasized black history and self-sufficiency. Hampton said in 1969, ‘reading is so important for us that a person has to go through six weeks of our political education before we can consider [them] a member’. Fred Hampton’s son, Fred Hampton Jr, was regularly on set, advising on many matters down to the details of wardrobe, body language and even background pictures and posters. In an interview with CNN, he says he is full of admiration for the film. The real Deborah Johnson, who now goes by Akua Njeri, says she was impressed by the production and the actors. She says: “I watched (Kaluuya) processing and learning, although I couldn't get a feel from him what he was really thinking, but I could see he was absorbing it all in … To see Daniel do the speeches and kind of do the walk and the talk and the mannerisms of Chairman Fred, it was really amazing." She also said she found she couldn’t hug LaKeith Stanfield, because his embodiment of the informant Bill O’Neal was just too real. Sign up for our email list at https://saffronscreen.com/mailinglist/ You can specifically request that these Monday night programme notes are emailed to you in advance. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram for regular updates. .

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