For our monthly movie night with the Central Oklahoma Labor Federation and in honor of Black History Month, we have selected the under-appreciated 2021 film Judas and the Black Messiah, which slipped under most people’s radar due to distribution delays from the pandemic. Another historical drama, this time focusing on a contemporary of Malcolm X, this film examines the FBI’s surveillance and COINTELPRO counterinsurgency campaign against Fred Hampton, the then-Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. A young black man is recruited to become an FBI informant and tasked with infiltrating the Black Panther Party to earn Hampton’s trust and friendship. It’s a film that pulls no punches about the realities of organizing against institutional injustices, depicting the dangers and resistances a group faces when considered enemies of the status quo. Unlike the previous screening of On The Waterfront, this is a film that does not celebrate the informer, but rather questions the ethics and consequences of betrayal.

Genre: Drama
Runtime: 2h 6m
Rating: R