Exploring Judas
Bill O’Neal ( LaKeith Stanfield) sits in front of a camera , sweating heavily and looking very nervous. “Looking back on your activities in the late ‘60s early ‘70s ... what would you tell your son about what you did?” O’Neal looks offscreen, an unpleasant facial expression washing over his face. He opens his mouth, but instead of his voice we hear a soft chant fading in. Begin the montage. Clouds of smoke rising over an urban setting . Armed guards threatening and assaulting black civilians. A headline detailing MLK’s assassination. Black men and women united under the insignia of the Black Panther Party , of which one member declares: “No individual creates a rebellion, it’s created out of the conditions.” From the opening moments of Judas and the Black Messiah (King, 2021), the viewer is completely immersed in the conditions of the black community duri...