This interview with the director doesn't address your concerns directly, but it made me lean into the "cautiously optimistic" camp.
Reading further and these quotes from Shaka King have me leaning into "generally optimistic:"
You’re talking about, like, they’re opposites, literally. Like, you have a deep-seated capitalist ideology in William O’Neal, and you have a deep-seated socialist ideology in Fred Hampton. You have one of the most brave human beings of all time, and you have a person who demonstrated incredible cowardice. So, you have an individualist; you have a person who is a master at building coalitions. And you have two people who have two very different definitions of power and freedom.
You know, I think, in regards to Roy Mitchell, who’s a primary character in the film and William O’Neal’s handler, there’s a reason why we kind of tried to make him complex, as well, because I think that, in a lot of ways, his character highlights the dangers of being a white centrist, especially when you’re a white person who works for the white power structure. And it doesn’t get more — you don’t find anyone who does that even more so than an FBI agent. So — I think there’s a myriad of things to take away from it, but those are some of them.
·4 years ago
This interview with the director doesn't address your concerns directly, but it made me lean into the "cautiously optimistic" camp.
Reading further and these quotes from Shaka King have me leaning into "generally optimistic:"