The Hate U Give
The
Hate U Give
Film
Review by Kam Williams
Amandla
Stenberg Stars in Adaptation of Searing, Inner City Saga
16
year-old Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) straddles two different
worlds which never intersect, one, black and poor, the other, white
and privileged. That's because she lives in the ghetto in Garden
Heights, but her parents (Regina Hall and Russell Hornsby) have sent
her to Williamson, an exclusive prep school located on the other side
of the tracks.
They
know that Williamson gives her a better chance of making it out of
the 'hood than the local public high school which is only good for
girls who want to get “high, pregnant or killed.” Consequently,
Starr uses slang when hanging out with her friends on the block,
although she always talks properly around her classmates.
Having
different personas isn't a problem until the night she accepts a ride
home from a party from Khalil (Algee Smith), a close childhood friend
she'd lost touch with. While obeying all the rules of the road ,
they're inexplicably pulled over by the police, ostensibly for
“driving while black.”
Starr
quietly complies with the condescending cop's (Drew Starkey) every
order, since she and her siblings had been carefully trained by her
father how to survive such an encounter. However, Khalil opts to
challenge the officer and is shot dead in seconds when his hair brush
is mistaken for a gun.
Within
days, Starr finds herself suddenly being swept up into the eye of a
media storm as the only eyewitness to the killing of an unarmed black
kid by a white lawman. The community calls for justice, but the only
hope of Officer MacIntosh's even being arrested is if Starr testifies
before the grand jury.
That
is the compelling point of departure of The Hate U Give, a searing,
inner city saga directed by George Tillman, Jr. (Notorious). The
movie is based on Angie Thomas' award-winning novel of the same name
which spent 50 weeks on the New York Times' Young Adult best seller
list.
The
heartbreaking bildungsroman features a top-flight cast, starting with
Amandla Stenberg who is riveting from beginning to end as the
terribly-conflicted Starr Carter. Also delivering powerful
performances are Russell Hornsby, Regina Hall, Anthony Mackie and
Common in service of a timely story certain to resonate with
African-American audiences.
A
grim reminder of just how tough it is to be young, marginalized and
black in a merciless environment oblivious of your plight.
Excellent
(4 stars)
Rated
PG-13
for violence, profanity, drug use and mature themes
Running
time: 132 minutes
Production
Studio: Temple Hill Entertainment / Fox 2000 Pictures / State Street
Pictures
Studio:
29th
Century Fox
No comments:
Post a Comment