The Black Panthers were a fascinating but enigmatic force of the 1960s. Here was a militant organization of black youths that captured the imagination of blacks in the 1960s who had grown impatient with Dr. King's stance of passive resistance. They brought with them the ideal of protecting their own and encouraging young blacks to have pride in themselves. Having said that I have no doubt that a great movie about The Black Panthers is yet to be made.
Mario Van Peeble's 'Panther' is not that movie. It's a bloated confused epic more intent on silly conspiracy theories then on facts. It purports to give us and inside look at how the party was founded and how the FBI brought it down but it wastes time on silly plot devices involving the Mafia.
The movie's first fatal flaw is that it is narrated from the point of view of a fictional character named Judge. That makes it hard for the viewer to get a foothold in the story. The opening scenes are very effective showing how Bobby Seal and Huey Newton met in a coffee shop one day and began to plan their strategy. I would like to have seen more scenes between these two then maybe I could have made my own assessments about them. We never really get to understand them or what fueled their fire. This movie is more interested in theatrics then in historical accuracy.
The movie uses the preposterous theory that J. Edgar Hoover dumped drugs into the black neighborhoods in order to bring about its downfall. The ending scenes are just plain stupid, a shootout in a warehouse with the FBI as they duck behind boxes. It seems easier to drag out an action scene then it does to create good drama. These scenes seem like a cop-out. In reality the party was brought down by pressure and by a conflict of ideas.
'Malcolm X', the best film of 1992, was about personalities and worked because we saw the change in Malcolm from the street hood to an inmate and ultimately a national leader. 'Panther' keeps us at arms length. We never understand the people that we see on screen. Who were these men? What were they fighting for? What motivated them? What went on personally between them that brought them down? These are questions that Peebles apparently doesn't know how to answer.
Mario Van Peeble's 'Panther' is not that movie. It's a bloated confused epic more intent on silly conspiracy theories then on facts. It purports to give us and inside look at how the party was founded and how the FBI brought it down but it wastes time on silly plot devices involving the Mafia.
The movie's first fatal flaw is that it is narrated from the point of view of a fictional character named Judge. That makes it hard for the viewer to get a foothold in the story. The opening scenes are very effective showing how Bobby Seal and Huey Newton met in a coffee shop one day and began to plan their strategy. I would like to have seen more scenes between these two then maybe I could have made my own assessments about them. We never really get to understand them or what fueled their fire. This movie is more interested in theatrics then in historical accuracy.
The movie uses the preposterous theory that J. Edgar Hoover dumped drugs into the black neighborhoods in order to bring about its downfall. The ending scenes are just plain stupid, a shootout in a warehouse with the FBI as they duck behind boxes. It seems easier to drag out an action scene then it does to create good drama. These scenes seem like a cop-out. In reality the party was brought down by pressure and by a conflict of ideas.
'Malcolm X', the best film of 1992, was about personalities and worked because we saw the change in Malcolm from the street hood to an inmate and ultimately a national leader. 'Panther' keeps us at arms length. We never understand the people that we see on screen. Who were these men? What were they fighting for? What motivated them? What went on personally between them that brought them down? These are questions that Peebles apparently doesn't know how to answer.