My mom is one of those people who just cannot take in information that clashes with her world view and just shuts down if you say something negative about a Democrat (unless they’re progressive).
About halfway through the movie, we had to pause because my brother had to use the bathroom and she talked about growing up in that time frame she was terrified of the Black Panthers because all she knew about them was that they wanted to “kill whitey.” The movie helped her realize that she only read propaganda in the newspapers and misinformation from the FBI. She had never heard of Fred Hampton before the movie.
This morning she sent an article to the family chat about how a former cop confessed that the police and FBI were involved in Malcolm X’s assassination.
I’m not a history buff, so I don’t know how sanitized the movie is, but I think it pretty unapologetically shows cops and the FBI as villains and gives context to when Panthers kill them that keeps the Panthers as the heroes. I think we need more accurate biopics about radicals, libs love these kind of movies. Unfortunately, we’re far more likely to get another Sorkin Chicago 6.
Just watched it last night because of this post. It was great. The depiction of Fred Hampton was just mesmerizing. He quoted Mao O:
The entire time I kept thinking, man, these people had such conviction and unity, over the same things I believe in. It could be me in there. I'm surprised to say that watching it revitalized a bit of a revolutionary spirit in me. Definitely worth a watch.
I definitely know what you mean about the revitalized spirit.
Although on one hand the movie made me so angry because the only thing that’s changed is the people being killed by cops/feds are less radical.
Goddamn yeah the movie destroyed me for a couple hours.