The Big Cigar is a six-episode limited series based on an article written by Joshuah Bearman (writer of the film Argo) that tells the wild true story of how Black Panther party co-founder Huey P. Newton (André Holland, Moonlight) escaped to Cuba with the help of Hollywood film producer Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola, Amsterdam). With slick costumes, a groovy soundtrack, and a whole lot of 1970s glamor, The Big Cigar entertains and educates with a sleek and efficient storytelling style.
The series opens with Huey P. Newton and his girlfriend Gwen Fontaine (Tiffany Boone, The Chi) on the run from the police and the FBI. Newton has been charged with a murder he did not commit and is determined to maintain his freedom. Newton and Fontaine seek refuge at their supporter Bert Schneider’s mansion where Schneider cooks up a plan to get Newton to safety using the ruse of making a film in Hollywood.
As Newton, André Holland embodies an impressive emotional range that felt authentic but unfortunately his vocal choices were distracting. Alessandro Nivola’s Bert Schneider is a complex portrayal of a narcissistic liberal with a white savior complex and a sweet spot for cocaine. This character is so frustrating it’s mind-numbing. His rich boy incompetence adds rich context to the conflict.
The Big Cigar has the same look and rhythm as the film Argo and the story is told in multi-layered flashbacks. Its pacing at first feels like a comedy but just as the audience gets comfortable, the shocking weight of what Newton and the Black Panthers endured lands, shocking viewers into a cold reality. The Black Panther Party’s original focus was on community service programs with self defense being necessary to protect members from predatory police tactics.
Not only does The Big Cigar reflect how the FBI tormented the Black Panthers with numerous tactics to fracture the movement, it skillfully reflects how ego and the quest for power and recognition tore the leadership of the Black Panther movement apart. Newton has multiple nemesis chipping away at his sanity. The writers, directors and actors do a great job of telling the story of the traumas that informed Huey P. Newton’s style of activism without reverting to being lazy trauma porn. I loved the subtle realism that was woven throughout the series. Schneider’s white saviorism blends with the lure of Hollywood fame factored into influencing and damaging Newton’s relationship with Bobby Seale and different factions of the Black Panther Party.
The writing, direction, and acting give a clear view of what Black revolutionaries sacrificed in their quest for liberation and the complexity of how liberal white folks both helped and harmed by funding the movement. Huey and Gwen’s love story nestled into the chaos is lovely. She grounds him in a way no one else seems to be able to do. It’s also wonderful to see the deep nurturing relationship between Huey and his father Walter (Glynn Turman, Queen Sugar) and how systemic racism influenced Huey. He comes from a space of love, and the negative impacts of his self medicating are directly linked to unfair incarceration and systemic racism.
The Big Cigar is a spectacular series to watch right now as Black folks are dissecting what revolution, liberation, and Black communities look like fifty years after the original Black Panther movement was born. Newton not only is fighting systems of oppression grounded in whiteness, he’s battling with the quickly fracturing Black Panther Party. The series lays out the layered relationship between Newton and Schneider as Newton struggles to not be perceived as a Hollywood sellout by the movement.
The show illustrates why Newton was a troubled leader with flaws and doesn’t sugar coat or exploit his issues with self-medicating with various substances throughout his life due to the dehumanizing treatment by the police, being hunted by the FBI, and systems of oppression. Newton isn’t perfect; he’s a flawed human impacted by his desire for power. When Seales and others call him out on his desire to be accepted and defined by whyte Hollywood, Newton claps back with a vitriol that many in the movement never forget or forgive him for.
The Big Cigar is layered and told with such clarity, humor, and care. Every department from the writers to the set designers are at the top of their game. Watching this limited series is like being transported back to the 1970s.
This limited series worth watching to be entertained, informed, and inspired.
The series was created by Janine Sherman Barrios (Claws), and one of the episodes was directed by Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), who was also one of the executive producers of the series.
The Big Cigar premieres on AppleTV+ Friday May 17, 2024.
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