‘Hate U Give’ focuses a sharp eye on race
Drama based on young adult novel presents a black teen’s perspective
“The Hate U Give” cuts through customary talking points about racism to capture the essence of being a young black female in a volatile America, where you often have to assume two identities and cope with the fear that your life or your friend’s life could by cut short.
Director George Tillman Jr.’s (“Barbershop”) explosive, urgently warranted adaptation of Angie Thomas’ best-selling 2017 young adult novel shakes you up and down as it addresses those points. Its 16-yearold protagonist struggles after witnessing her unarmed childhood friend gunned down by a white cop. Thomas was partly spurred to write the novel after the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.
The result is a emotionally staggering and provocative work that is as important today as it will likely be tomorrow. It invites audiences to witness events from a black teen’s perspective, while giving black youths the opportunity to hear a distinctive voice so rarely heard with such clarity on screen.
“The Hate U Give” is the real, in-your-face deal, offering no sound-bite solutions as it captures the dual realities of Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg, in one of the best performances you’ll see all year). Starr toggles back and forth between two very different identities, spending time in the privileged world of the very white Williamson Prep School and the supportive home life in her poor black neighborhood, Garden Heights.
Starr is one of the most welcome narrators you’ll encounter, a fully developed character trying to navigate both environments. She’s smart, complicated and expresses herself with an honest, resonant voice that raises uncomfortable issues we need to confront. Stenberg (“The Hunger Games”) gives a soulful performance, one that must be rewarded around nomination time
As should Tillman’s film, which clocks in at over two hours and miraculously never feels like a second of it is dispensable.
The beautifully written screenplay by the late Audrey Wells wisely takes its time, assuredly filling out details and characters in Starr’s home and high school life. It is only later that we we arrive at that ill-fated night, when a cop pulls over Starr and the charismatic Khalil (Algee Smith), who is shot dead as he reaches for his hairbrush.
Starr is conflicted about what to do next, wanting to share her story and bring her friend’s killer to justice but afraid of how a drug dealer, King (Anthony Mackie), might react.
What makes Starr’s choices so painfully tough is that her actions and decisions could affect every character around her. That’s certainly true for her family. Oakland’s Russell Hornsby, perhaps most familiar for his role in the TV series “Grimm,” portrays Maverick, Starr’s father and a store owner who courageously pulled himself out of a drugdealing cycle. Hornsby gives an Oscar-worthy supporting performance, fully grasping with intensity his character’s past and present.
The versatile Regina Hall (so good in “Support the Girls”) delivers another nuanced performance as Lisa, a nurse and mom trying to protect her family, including
Starr’s kid brother Sekani (TJ Wright) and Starr’s halfbrother Seven (Lamar Johnson). She is eager to move out of the neighborhood but Maverick sees that as giving up on being true to themselves. Helping Starr on the sidelines is her cop uncle Carlos (Common).
While many potent, complicated issues are raised, none seems force-fed into the story, including the dismissive reactions of her white friend Hailey (Sabrina Carpenter). Particularly thought-provoking is the telling conversation between Starr and her loving white boyfriend Chris (“Riverdale’s” KJ Apa). Chris says he is colorblind whenever he sees Starr and she fires back that that is just the point: He needs to see, really see, her blackness.
It’s one of the many discussions that hits a cultural nerve that’s especially raw right now. Yet “The Hate U Give” doesn’t wallow in despair. There is hope, and that can be found in family and genuine connections that occur when everyone takes the time to listen, ask questions and express themselves. Then, hopefully, a better life for future generations can happen.