A politically charged movie

Rating: 5/10 (20 February 2018)

Reading the wiki entry on the black panther party: the FBI considered the movement 'the greatest threat to internal security of the country' at the time. Curiously enough, the Marvel comic character also preceded the forming of the party in 1966, though nowhere can you read that it had any influence. Also strangely enough, the new movie encourages the same practises that the party did, namely community outreach and medical clinics. And just like the party, the movie makes it clear that politics is about power. Where the film differs from previous black superhero movies is that the hero here does not live with other Americans in a harmonious melting pot: they are their own kingdom, and vastly superior to the 'colonializers' (word used in the movie, FYI Imdb editors..). Well I guess in the end all superhero movies are empowering to their constituency (spiderman: the geeky teenagers; superman: the goody two shoes; the avengers: the groupies? Thor: the rednecks). That's the positive thing I can see here. The movie is also reasonably entertaining.