” serve as a triptych of the Black experience, inviting viewers inside the great debates that accompanied an earlier generation’s fight for equality. Together, they chart the course of that turbulent decade.
“One Night in Miami” is based on the real-life encounter between Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali. It’s set on Feb. 25, 1964, the night the boxer won the heavyweight title for the first time. “Judas and the Black Messiah” takes place in the late 1960s and documents the final days in the life of Black Panthers leader Fred Hampton, while “Da 5 Bloods” travels between the Vietnam War era and the present, as the surviving quartet cope with the scars of war.
And it was interesting for me watching “Judas and the Black Messiah.” My knowledge of the Black Panthers doesn’t go that far beyond Huey P. Newton. I knew who Fred Hampton was, I knew about his death, but at no point did I think all that happened to a man who was 21 years old.That youth component inspired me, because I feel like young people need to be inspired to pick up the mantle and realize that they have this amount of power.
However, this is not supposed to be a biopic. This is just to give you an understanding of what these men represent, rather than what they did, when and how. This isn’t supposed to be your historical document. If anything, quite the opposite; it’s supposed to make you go out [and read]. The FBI files on Malcolm X have been available for years; you can track everything the man did the last year of his life.
Fred Hampton, center, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther party, speaks outside a rally outside the U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.Let’s talk about the music. Spike, Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” album was an important thread. How did it help you shape the narrative?Like a surgeon, I did it very skillfully [laughs]. He was a prophet. “What’s Going On,” one of the greatest albums ever made, came out in 1971. I know the album back and forth, and I knew where to put the songs.
Telling people about the screenplay, I always would warn them, “You’re going to get a movie with a singer, with not much singing; a boxer, but not much boxing; a football player with no football scenes; and Malcolm X, not giving any speeches.” That wasn’t really what the story was about. You should leave this film and want to hear a lot more Sam Cooke.The streamers are more doors to knock on. You only need one, and Netflix was that one door, and I thank them.
I'd switch, The United States vs. Billie Holiday in place of Da 5 Bloods. Hands down.
Da 5 Bloods is a poorly crafted remake of Treasure of the Sierra Madre
What about the Trial of the Chicago 7? That's the mothership here.