Judas and the Black Messiah is a fairly straightforward, dramatic biographical film executed with a significant amount of flair and compassion for its subject. It's not the sort of film that I gravitate towards but I thoroughly enjoyed the story that director, Shaka King, built around Fred Hampton and his chapter of the Black Panther movement.

The performances and the score are absolute standouts but the best thing I can say about the film is that it inspired me to research the characters and movements it portrays. The film wraps its audience up in the ideas of the party, partially because of the deftness of the filmmaking and partially because the ideas themselves are so powerful.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who appreciates an undercover thriller or an acting showcase. However what I truly hope is that it finds its way to more people like me, who have only a very rudimentary idea of what the Black Panther movement stood for, and starts them on a journey to educating themselves on a critical chapter is US history.