‘Hate U Give’ is for everybody

Coming-of-age story tackles difficult issues

Fall is a time for those “important” movies – biopics, Oscar contenders, Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper superstar vehicles – and teen-oriented fare doesn’t normally break into that hallowed time. But “The Hate U Give” is one of the rare important teen films that needs to be seen by everybody. Based on Angie Thomas’ 2017 young-adult novel, the profoundly affecting project takes themes of Black Lives Matter, police brutality and black identity and puts them in the thought-provoking story of an African-American girl stuck between cultures. However, “The Hate U Give” rated PG-13; in select theaters Friday, including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami and Washington; expands nationwide Oct. 19) manages to go deeper still into where we are in the world, emphasizing youth activism and making the hard decision to speak out when necessary. Starr Carter (an amazing Amandla Stenberg) is a 16-year-old from the poor, mostly black community of Garden Heights, where her protective dad Maverick (Russell Hornsby) owns the local grocery store. For school, though, Starr and her siblings go to private Williamson Prep about 40 minutes away in a rich white neighborhood because mom Lisa (Regina Hall) wants her kids to have a good education. Starr never feels quite whole in her code-switching existence: She feels the side eye of mean girls at Williamson while spending time with her white boyfriend Chris (K.J. Apa) and doesn’t feel like she fits in at parties with her Garden Heights friends. One night riding home with her friend Khalil (Algee Smith), they’re pulled over, and Starr watches in horror as Khalil reaches inside the car for his hairbrush and is gunned down by a white cop who thinks it was a gun. Seeing news reports or reading articles about young African-Americans being shot and killed is one thing, but director George Tillman Jr. immerses an audience in the heartache and hard feelings of loved ones in the aftermath of such a tragedy – and for Starr, it hurts even more since it’s her second close friend to die via a bullet. “The Hate U Give” isn’t shy about revealing the emotions of everyone involved – even the side of the police comes through in a heated conversation between Starr and her Uncle Carlos (Common), a cop who understands his colleague’s perspective as well as his family’s. “We live in a complicated world,” he says. Her response: “It doesn’t seem that complicated to me.” “Hate” brings up vital discussions for a society wrestling with a lack of empathy, understanding and tolerance.