Passes the Bechdel test
Judas and the Black Messiah
2021. Directed by Shaka King, written by Will Berson and Shaka King and Kenneth Lucas.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 114. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
Fred Hampton, a young, charismatic activist, becomes Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party - putting him directly in the crosshairs of the government, the FBI, and the Chicago Police. But to destroy the revolution, the authorities are going to need a man on the inside.
- Released
- 12 Feb 2021
- Genres
- Biography, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 84 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 46 wins & 85 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Fred 188 lines, man
- O'Neal 142 lines, man
- Mitchell 70 lines, man
- Deborah 46 lines, woman
- Harmon 27 lines, woman
- Winters 26 lines, man
- Audience 24 lines
- Hoover 21 lines, man
- Palmer 19 lines, man
- Rush 18 lines, man
Full cast, 53 people
- Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton
- LaKeith Stanfield as Bill O'Neal
- Jesse Plemons as Roy Mitchell
- Dominique Fishback as Deborah Johnson
- Ashton Sanders as Jimmy Palmer
- Algee Smith as Jake Winters
- Darrell Britt-Gibson as Bobby Rush
- Lil Rel Howery as Wayne
- Dominique Thorne as Judy Harmon
- Martin Sheen as J. Edgar Hoover
- Amari Cheatom as Collins
- Khris Davis as Steel
- Ian Duff as Doc Satchel
- Caleb Eberhardt as Bob Lee
- Robert Longstreet as Leslie Carlyle
- Amber Chardae Robinson as Betty Coachman
- Ikechukwu Ufomadu as Walter Hicks
- James Udom as Compton
- Nick Fink as Fesperman
- Mell Bowser as Tex
- Alysia Joy Powell as Mrs. Winters
- Nicholas Velez as José Cha Cha Jiménez
- AJ Carr as Anthony Timmons
- Tommy Lafitte as Pool Hall Bartender
- Terayle Hill as George Sams
- China Shavers as College Student
- Crystal Lee Brown as Darlene
- Graham Lutes as Alex
- Jonathan Scialabba as CPD Officer
- Adam Ratcliffe as Cop
- RayJonaldy Rodriguez as Mexican Teen
- Tyra Joy Smith as Tracy Randle
- Deonte Stubbs as Dice Game Onlooker
- Cliff Weissman as Hospital Cop
- Tone Tank as Officer Carcetti
- James Bruner as Officer Williams
- Winston Haynes as Captain James Byrne
- Raymond Seay as Oldest Kid
- Latjuan Wells as Youngest Kid
- Michael Harrity as Menard Prison Warden
- Will F. Moore as Interviewer (voice)
- Ken Bolden as Maître d'
- Maggie Rose Tyma as Blonde Girl
- Michael Buonomo as FBI Agent
- Aaron Kleiber as Agent Saunders
- Brian Bowman as Reg
- Cooper Bucha as James
- Robert Forte Shannon III as Prisoner
- The Lady of Rage as Lady Panther
- Jermaine Fowler as Mark Clark (uncredited)
- Chris Hahn as Prison Guard (uncredited)
- Linda D Gaines as Female Protestor Church / Police Station (uncredited)
- Brian Andrus as Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 114
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 0 | 11 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 23 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 21 |
| 10 to 12 | 8 | 26 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 5 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 2 |
| 19 to 21 | 5 | 21 |
| 22 to 24 | 1 | 11 |
| 25 to 27 | 1 | 23 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 10 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 18 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 20 |
| 37 to 39 | 8 | 18 |
| 40 to 42 | 10 | 29 |
| 43 to 45 | 2 | 12 |
| 46 to 48 | 1 | 4 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 17 |
| 52 to 54 | 2 | 47 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 1 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 6 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 3 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 11 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 7 |
| 70 to 72 | 13 | 6 |
| 73 to 75 | 2 | 8 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 1 |
| 79 to 81 | 6 | 14 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 8 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 29 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 77 |
| 91 to 93 | 14 | 7 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 3 |
| 97 to 99 | 7 | 21 |
| 100 to 102 | 7 | 48 |
| 103 to 105 | 3 | 31 |
| 106 to 108 | 1 | 7 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 13 |
| 112 to 114 | 1 | 1 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
HARMON: You okay? DEBORAH: I’m fine. I’m fine.
HARMON: You got a whistle? HARMON: Escort Comrade Deborah out the back to the safe house. DEBORAH: Why?
HARMON: You don’t even know where it is. DEBORAH: I ain’t going nowhere. DEBORAH: --.- I can protect myself. HARMON: I know you can... But you don’t got just yourself to think about -- anymore.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 13 are women's.
92 lines from women, 620 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 31 men in the cast. 6 women and 28 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 75 of 830.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 159 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 13% of the words (1,174), men 87% (7,932).
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
3
Two men
37
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 17 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 40% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Shaka King (man)
- Written by
- Will Berson (man), Shaka King (man)
- Story by
- Kenneth Lucas (man), Keith Lucas (man), Shaka King (man), Will Berson (man)
- Produced by
- Shaka King (man), Ryan Coogler (man), Charles D. King (man)
- Shot by
- Sean Bobbitt (man)
- Edited by
- Kristan Sprague (man)
- Music by
- Craig Harris (gender not listed), Mark Isham (man)
- Production design by
- Sam Lisenco (man)
- Costumes by
- Charlese Antoinette Jones (woman)
- Cast by
- Alexa L. Fogel (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
13 women, 14 men, 11 not listed
-
Visual Effects
4 women, 3 men, 27 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
14 women, 3 men, 13 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 10 men, 17 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 15 men, 10 not listed
-
Other crew
3 women, 2 men, 10 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 8 men, 5 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 26 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Dominique Thorne 23, Dominique Fishback 29
Men
Ashton Sanders 25, Algee Smith 26, LaKeith Stanfield 29, Daniel Kaluuya 31, Jesse Plemons 32, Darrell Britt-Gibson 34, Lil Rel Howery 41, Martin Sheen 80
Exhibit H: the money
It made 25% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $26 million
- Box office
- $6.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 114 scenes and 830 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
