Great Trailer for JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH About the Betrayal and Assassination of Black Panther Party's Fred Hampton
Warner Bros. has released the first trailer for its upcoming film Judas and the Black Messiah. This film tells the true story of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton and how he was betrayed by William O’Neal, a petty criminal who was forced by the FBI to infiltrate the Black Panther Party to cause distrust within the movement and provide intel to the FBI.
Daniel Kaluuya takes on the role of Fred Hampton, and LaKeith Stanfield plays William O’Neal. The movie comes from first time director Shaka King with Marvel’s Black Panther director Ryan Coogler producing. It looks like King has some solid talent as the film looks really freakin’ good. it also doesn’t hurt that this is an awesomely cut trailer! This trailer does a great job of selling this film with its intensity, imagery, and energy.
Here’s a full synopsis released by by the studio for the film:
In 1968, a young, charismatic activist named Fred Hampton became Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, who were fighting for freedom, the power to determine the destiny of the Black community, and an end to police brutality and the slaughter of Black people.
Chairman Fred was inspiring a generation to rise up and not back down to oppression, which put him directly in the line of fire of the government, the FBI and the Chicago Police. But to destroy the revolution, they had to do it from both the outside…and the inside. Facing prison, William O’Neal is offered a deal by the FBI: if he will infiltrate the Black Panthers and provide intel on Hampton, he will walk free. O’Neal takes the deal.
Now a comrade in arms in the Black Panther Party, O’Neal lives in fear that his treachery will be discovered even as he rises in the ranks. But as Hampton’s fiery message draws him in, O’Neal cannot escape the deadly trajectory of his ultimate betrayal.
Though his life was cut short, Fred Hampton’s impact has continued to reverberate. The government saw the Black Panthers as a militant threat to the status quo and sold that lie to a frightened public in a time of growing civil unrest. But the perception of the Panthers was not reality. In inner cities across America, they were providing free breakfasts for children, legal services, medical clinics and research into sickle cell anemia, and political education. And it was Chairman Fred in Chicago, who, recognizing the power of multicultural unity for a common cause, created the Rainbow Coalition—joining forces with other oppressed peoples in the city to fight for equality and political empowerment.
Judas and the Black Messiah also stars Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, and Martin Sheen. There’s no solid release date yet, but it will hit theaters in 2021.