Sadly, I never heard of this movie until recently. I say sadly because I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some things were definitely dramatized, but the gist of the movie was true to the facts.
I had the pleasure of reading the tome, "Black Against Empire" by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr. It is essentially the complete history of the Black Panther Party: a 540 page whopper of a book with names, dates, events and more. "Panther" by Mario Van Peebles lines up very well with that book.
The entire production was brilliant. It's clear that there wasn't a big budget, yet they secured actors such as Courtney B. Vance, Kadeem Hardison, Bokeem Woodbine, Chris Rock, Bobby Brown, Angela Bassett, Roger Gueneveur Smith, M. Emmet Walsh, and Dick Gregory. I know some of these names won't blow your skirt up, but they're all established actors (except Bobby Brown, he was just a well known name).
So, to answer your burning question: yes, it is a favorable movie about the BPP which conversely means it is an unfavorable movie about the police and the FBI. But I'll tell you what, the police don't need much help painting unfavorable pictures of themselves these days. It's just amazing how a movie shot in 1995 about 1967-68 seems right at home in 2020.
I had the pleasure of reading the tome, "Black Against Empire" by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr. It is essentially the complete history of the Black Panther Party: a 540 page whopper of a book with names, dates, events and more. "Panther" by Mario Van Peebles lines up very well with that book.
The entire production was brilliant. It's clear that there wasn't a big budget, yet they secured actors such as Courtney B. Vance, Kadeem Hardison, Bokeem Woodbine, Chris Rock, Bobby Brown, Angela Bassett, Roger Gueneveur Smith, M. Emmet Walsh, and Dick Gregory. I know some of these names won't blow your skirt up, but they're all established actors (except Bobby Brown, he was just a well known name).
So, to answer your burning question: yes, it is a favorable movie about the BPP which conversely means it is an unfavorable movie about the police and the FBI. But I'll tell you what, the police don't need much help painting unfavorable pictures of themselves these days. It's just amazing how a movie shot in 1995 about 1967-68 seems right at home in 2020.