Film Review - The Hate U Give

Director George Tillman  Jr. gets right to the point with the first scene of The Hate U Give. The Carter family is around the dining room table with Patriarch Maverick (Russell Hornsby) giving The Talk to his kids explaining step by step what to do when the eventuality of being stopped by the police occurs. Starr (Amandla Stenberg) is 9 when the event occurs a year before she sees the first of her friends die before her.  Starr has to lead two different lives, one at home in Garden City where she lives with her family her aforementioned dad Maverick a reformed number 2 of main gang in the neighbourhood the King Lords , mom Lisa (Regina Hall) who works at the hospital, year older half brother Seven (Lamar Johnson) and younger brother Sekani ( TJ Wright). At school, she turns into Starr version two leaving Garden City driven by her mom along with her two brothers to Williamson a full dress uniform school far away from her home.

Starr likes Garden City especially on the weekends when she can relax with her friends. She runs into one of her oldest and dearest Khalil (Algee Smith) who offers a ride home when a house party has an incident. The pair are stopped by the police Starr knows what to do, Khalil does not and ends up dead by the front wheel of his car. The event goes national leaving Starr with tough questions to decide.

Writers Audrey Wells and Tina Mabry adapting from Angie Thomas's give a first person account from the mind of a teenage girl. Starr is being tugged on all sides.  Her dad tatted ex-gang banger turned store owner devotee to the Black Panther 10 Point Program wants Starr not to be silent. Mom Lisa who can see her daughter being targeted for coming forward preaches caution.  Civil rights lawyer April Ofrah (Issa Rae)  brought in by Khalil's family want her to step up for the community. Her classmates at school see the incident as a chance to faux protest but sympathize more with the officer than the victim with a questionable past.

Amandla Stenberg is in just about every frame of the film as Starr. She lives in one world goes to school in a different one struggling every day to reconcile the two. Russell Hornsby dominates the screen as Maverick. He has left the gang life behind as a promise to his wife Lisa but when his family is put in harms way the old instincts come crashing back to the surface. Regina Hall is strong, strict and supportive as Lisa. Look for Common continuing a string of strong roles as Starr's Uncle Carlos who as a cop himself gives a chilling account of what goes through a cops mind and likely reaction to the same set of circumstance in the black community vs an affluent white one.

The Hate U Give manages to bring new depth to the regularly reported occurrence of an unarmed black teen shot by a white police officer. Starr is caught between two worlds struggling to fit in either until she finds her voice. The shadow behind the title is Thug Life. If you don't give little kids something positive they will be a problem for everyone.

*** 1/2 Out of 4.

The Hate U Give | George Tillman Jr. | U.S.A | 2018 | 133 Minutes.

Tags:  The Talk,  Black Panther 10 Point Program, Traffic Stop, Nike, Air Jordan's, Hoddie, Grand Jury, Funeral Protest, March, Harry Potter, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, 2PAC