OFTEN when we read the news, headlines involving injustice and crime – like shootings of unarmed black civilians across the US – naturally evokes strong emotions.
While many would continue to carry that feeling and choose to explore the topic further, it is easy to get lost and desensitised by today’s rapid news cycle, especially to outsiders looking in.
It also means the full force of police brutality, particularly against black communities in the US, is often not understood in its entirety, and the repercussions not felt by many.
The Hate U Give succeeds in presenting an emotionally-telling visual narrative that not only highlights the social construct of how a person’s race is perceived in America, but also the cycle of violence it creates.
Based on author Angie Thomas’ book of the same name, the film follows 16-year-old Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) who lives in a predominantly African-American neighbourhood of Garden Heights.
Starr and her brothers Seven (Lamar Johnson) and Sekani all attend private school Williamson Prep in a different neighbourhood where the students are richer and mostly white.
While at a weekend party she bumps into childhood friend Khalil, who offers to drive her home safe after sounds from a gunshot disperse the frightened crowd.
A police officer stops them on the way, and makes Khalil exit the vehicle.
He shoots the boy - without question or warning - after assuming the brush he mindlessly held when checking on a scared Starr, was a gun.
From then on an already conflicted Starr has to decide if she wants to speak up for her now voiceless friend in an environment where tensions are rising in the entire community including law enforcement.
Named after Tupac’s THUG LIFE - The Hate U Give Little Infants F**cks Everybody – who Thomas has expressed admiration for, the line is brought up a few times in the movie.
It links Starr’s perspective of the divide as she understands what is happening around her.
Stenberg’s moving portrayal as Starr is both expressive and authentic, while Insecure creator Issa Rae takes on the firm role as lawyer and activist.
Director George Tillman Jr. certainly did a brilliant job of adapting the book to film. He manages to translate a range of emotions that comes with the contemporary reality the book is inspired by.
The Hate U Give is bound to resonate with anyone who watches. It will make you weep, it will make you smile, and it will make you think.
