I've spent a significant amount of time trying to figure out why "Judas and the Black Messiah," directed and co-written by Shaka King, didn't work for me. It's a film that I've been looking forward to seeing for a while, with a fantastic cast that delivers excellent performances. The subject matter is timely and involving, giving us a pointedly different take on the assasination of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), and everyone involved seems to be deeply invested in getting things right.
Lakeith Stanfield stars as Bill O'Neal, a petty criminal who is manipulated by the FBI to become their informant. He works with a handler, Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemmons), to infiltrate the Black Panther Party in Chicago, becoming close to Hampton. From this vantage point, the film presents a sympathetic profile of Hampton as a rising civil rights leader, and the Black Panther Party as an organization concerned with community betterment and outreach, as well as with more revolutionary aims. Kaluuya's Hampton is a charismatic, passionate man with the potential for greatness. We watch him fall in love with his girlfriend Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback), suffer an endless onslaught of adversity and tragedy, and earn his place as the messiah figure of the piece. Lakeith Stanfield has most of his best moments in reaction shots, stewing in his guilt as he becomes more and more aware of the role he's being forced to play.
It's good to see the FBI portrayed as the unquestionable villains here, with Martin Sheen appearing briefly as a deeply racist J. Edgar Hoover. The actions of law enforcement to combat the Panthers, and their orchestration of various murders and killings is appalling to see. Wisely, the FBI is not treated as a monolithic entity of injustice. Plemmons' Agent Mitchell is in a role similar to O'Neal's, stuck carrying out orders that he doesn't agree with. However, Shaka King is so focused on reorienting the narrative to reveal the injustices perpetrated by the FBI, it's detrimental to the impact of the message. O'Neal gets lost in the aftermath, as the focus shifts to Johnson. The film ends with an extended summary of what happened to the surviving characters after Hampton's death, making it feel like the film ended too abruptly. This is King's second film, and while I admire his ambitions, the filmmaking doesn't quite live up to them.
"The Mauritanian" is a more familiar kind of film showing the injustices and abuses of the U.S. government. We've racked up quite a few titles about the abuses of the post-9-11 Bush administration. "The Mauritanian" can be slotted in right next to "Zero Dark Thirty" and "The Report," though it takes the form of a legal drama instead of a political thriller. What "The Mauritanian" offers, however, is a film that finally gives us a detainee narrative primarily from the detainee's point of view, one that humanizes him in a way that doesn't feel insincere or gimmicky. The film is based on "Guantanamo Diary" by Mohamedou Ould Salahi, the Mauritanian of the title who was held at Guantanamo for fourteen years without charges.
The film uses a bit of a bait and switch. At first, American lawyers Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) and Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley) are set up as the leads, who take on the case of Salahi (Tahar Rahim), after he's already been held at Guantanamo for some time. Simultaneously, there's the case against Salahi being prosecuted by Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch (Cumberbatch), who believes Salahi was a major Al Qaeda recruiter. Both sides gradually uncover the truth about Salahi's innocence and his treatment by the CIA. As the film goes on, Salahi himself becomes more and more prominent, relaying the most painful parts of his story directly and through flashbacks. It really is Tahar Rahim's movie, showcasing his excellent performance throughout.
Kevin Macdonald directed, from a screenplay by newcomers M.B. Traven, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. I appreciate how straightforward and easily approachable the film is, especially the way Guantanamo is depicted as a fairly mundane place with a gift shop and fast food restaurant. It takes away so much of the aura of mystery away from the place, when you see it as just another extension of U.S. government institutions. In contrast, Salahi's flashbacks to his life in Mauritania and Germany are beautifully idyllic and poignant. When the scenes of torture do occur, late in the film, they hit with unusual impact because the dehumanization of the victim in this context is impossible. The most touching scenes take place in the film's coda - similar, but far better executed to than the one in "Judas in the Black Messiah." And I leave you to discover why for yourself.
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