"The Hate U Give" is Comfortably 'True to Life'

Police brutality and race relations in this country rarely make for a comfortable discussion, but somehow George Tillman Jr. presents the combination quite effectively in The Hate U Give. Simply put, Tillman has crafted a phenomenal adaptation of Angie Thomas’ bestseller “The Hate U Give.”

Turning the popular novel into a film lends an even more powerful stance to the plight of a black family. 

Starr Carter, played by Amandla Stenberg is a beautiful 90s-obsessed black teenager, with an infectious smile, an affinity for Air Jordans and a conscience that wears her thin. The Carter family lives in the predominantly black neighborhood of Garden Heights.

From the onset of the film, we learn that the local high school is “a place you go to get drunk, high, pregnant or killed,” so Starr and her two brothers attend Williamson, a white private school at the urging of her mother Lisa (Regina Hall).

Starr’s father, Maverick (Russell Hornsby), is introduced in the film giving his children “the talk,” in which he explicitly explains the rules for surviving a traffic stop. He also makes them learn the Black Panther Ten-Point Program by heart. Maverick is a small business owner, who took a three-year stay in jail to protect local gangster King (Anthony Mackie). While Mackie’s role as drug chief is not fully developed in the film, his character serves an identifiable antagonistic role that exists in many drug-infested communities.  

A huge part of the Starr dynamic is the fact that she switches up effortlessly when she leaves her neighborhood and takes on a more complacent persona on her white campus. She removes her hoodie, relinquishes all signs of slang and subtles any slight aggression she owns. Her ability to switch up, however, proves to reveal a more internal struggle to discover her true self. This is a battle that surfaces amidst her friendship with a white classmate, her relationship with a white boyfriend and the privilege that looms at her school.

Starr attends a party in her neighborhood and is reconnected with her old friend, Khalil (Algee Smith). When trouble finds its way to the party, the teenagers leave and go on a reminiscent ride. The night ends with the two being pulled over by a police officer, who delivers a fatal gunshot to Kahlil. Starr is the only witness.

The Hate U Give is complete with several references to the late Tupac Shakur.

Empowering messages and necessary suggestive undertones are limitless throughout the two-hour plus film. “If you don’t see my blackness, you don’t see me,” Starr tells her boyfriend Chris in response to him adamantly telling her that he doesn’t see color.  

The Hate U Give is absolutely a must-see. While viewers will easily be stirred and frustrated, this perfectly assembled cast makes for such a charming family dynamic. It’s unfortunate that so much distrust and discomfort related to law enforcement and black communities is so closely relatable to true American news.