The inimitable Lakeith Stanfield plays FBI Informant (or Judas) Bill O’Neal in this biographical drama surrounding the betrayal of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1960s Chicago – I’m not sure if this makes Hampton the Black Messiah or a very naughty boy.
In 1968, 19-year-old petty criminal O’Neal is arrested in Chicago after stealing a car whilst impersonating an FBI agent. In order for his charges to be dropped, including a potential five-year prison sentence, O’Neal agrees to go undercover for the Bureau and to infiltrate Hampton’s chapter of the Black Panther Party. It is a skilfully executed account of O’Neal’s plunge into a nasty circle of betrayal and deceit.
The film won two Oscars, in Best Supporting Actor for Kaluuya, and Best Original Song (Fight for You – H.E.R.). It also received a further four nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Stanfield. Although I’d argue that Stanfield was the film’s real lead.
As you might expect from a biographical drama, the film builds up to a real life end point, and as such is somewhat limited in its storytelling. Nonetheless, it is fiercely watchable and passionately performed.
Kaluuya has come a very long way from the days as Posh Kenneth in Skins and Postman Pat-parody Parking Pataweyo and his reinterpretation of Hampton is magnificent, and the spoken-likeness is uncanny. The audience will no doubt appreciate the rhythm, poeticism and charisma of his speeches, as well as the seemingly uncharacteristic shyness around his partner and mother of his child, Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback).
Stanfield (Knives Out, Get Out, Straight Outta Compton) goes all out in his role as O’Neal; the audience feels his nervy energy, doubt, relief and regret throughout the film. Some may even empathise and sympathise with O’Neal’s situation. It is an incredibly balanced reimagining of a man that was clearly in conflict with himself. He quickly flips between leading the rebuild of the Panthers’ Illinois headquarters following a fire, to expressing his visible thrill at being taken out for a lavish steak dinner courtesy of the Bureau, with Special Agent Mitchell (Jesse Plemons – Game Night).
He was clearly manipulated by the authorities, but revelled in the perks. His performance is much more complicated and compelling than that of Kaluuya. When asked why he posed as a federal officer rather than using a knife or a gun, O’Neal notes that “the badge is scarier” – a concept that still resonates for many. The film does not shy away from the violence that flowed in both directions and the film portrayed the lead characters’ flaws, flawlessly.
Interestingly, the film incorporates real footage of O’Neal during his first and only interview filmed for the documentary series Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads 1965-1985. And, I will leave you with this thought-provoking quote from the film, paraphrased from a chairman Fred original:
“You can murder a liberator, but you can’t murder liberation. You can murder a revolutionary, but you can’t murder revolution. And you can murder a freedom fighter, but you can’t murder freedom!”
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