👍

The last 20 minutes of this movie are some of the best I’ve seen all year. Yes the entire movie is good, even if it does start to drag in the middle just a bit. But DAMN those last 20 minutes are complete gold. 

The film uses music and editing really intelligently as well! The title card moment was one of my favorites just because of how creative it was. The performances are all spot on, but Lakeith Stanfield and Dominique Fishback completely steal this show. 

I also really like how the movie takes a completely unbiased look at the subject it’s showing. It shows how truly bold and courageous the Black Panther party was - the incredible good it did for its community and the trail it has paved for continued justice. But it also doesn’t shy away from questionable moments - moments that you can’t help but say “damn, are they doing the right thing?”

But who am I to ask that? I’ll never know the struggle, the oppression. And that’s why the real Bill O’Neal’s words really got to me at the end. There are so many armchair revolutionaries, who sit back and try to say Well I would have done this, and this is wrong. But the truth of the matter is, none of us know what we would have done. None of us. Especially white people - it’s not our place to tell minorities how to protest or rebel. It’s not our place to say what is morally right or wrong. Until we’ve felt the generational crack of whip or the sting of oppression, it isn’t our place to tell minorities how to demand justice. 

That’s what I took away from this movie. A very, very powerful film, and so far, one of the best of 2021.