A lot of my students are reading the best-selling Y/A novel The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas so I decided to see the movie adaptation last night. Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) lives in the poverty-ridden and gang-controlled neighborhood of Garden Heights but she attends a prep-school in the wealthy Williamson area. She suppresses who she really is in order to fit in at her white school but tries not to alienate her black friends. One night she and her childhood friend Khalil (Algee Smith) are pulled over for a routine traffic stop and a white police officer fatally shoots Khalil. Starr witnesses the entire incident and, when the police officer is not immediately charged with the shooting, she faces pressure to testify before a grand jury from an activist group. She fears that testifying will draw unwanted attention which will affect how people view her at school and she is threatened by a gang leader because testifying could reveal that Khalil was selling drugs for the gang. Ultimately, Starr realizes that she must use her voice to stop the cycle of hate. This movie is intense and incredibly powerful with an amazing central performance by Stenberg and some strong supporting performances by Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Anthony Mackie, and Common. It was sometimes difficult for me to watch but what I liked most about this movie is that it emphasizes so many different perspectives (the scene between Starr and her uncle, who is a cop, just about brought me to tears) and doesn't seek to vilify any one particular group. The message that hate is what divides people really resonated with me and I think this is a movie that everyone needs to see, especially young people. I highly recommend it.
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