The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give (2018) is a movie my fiancé and I watched while on vacation. The storyline follows a young lady on her way home with her best friend when he gets gunned down by police officers. Everyone around her seems to have an opinion on how she should handle the situation until her voice gets drowned out. Can the young lady find her forum to get her message out the way she feels most comfortable? This movie is directed by George Tillman Jr. (Men of Honor) and stars Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games), Regina Hall (Scary Movie), Common (Wanted), Issa Rae (Insecure) and Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker). The storyline for this is very well told and paced. The cast is well selected and delivers their characters well. The chemistry within the family and its dynamics are very apparent. The delivery of the main character was key to the films success and she was solid (not outstanding). Overall the movie is a bit predictable but has a good message and unfolds well. I'd score this a 7.5/10.

It was promising, but halfway it got lost into many messages it wanted to send. The performances were really strong, though.

Wow. Where do I start? I watch movie's of any type and genre If I think I will enjoy it and although (surprisingly) I had never heard of this film, it looked like one I might like. It had been on my planner for a couple of weeks and when I finally saw it I was blown away. I am a white male from a poor but not impoverished back ground, I have not experienced any of the events in the film nor do I know anyone who has, but I felt as though I was living the life of the main protagonist. The themes of unity and the situation of feeling like no one listens hit hard and the film worked wonderfully to illustrate how people at the bottom of the pile feel. Whether that be black, white or anything else. This film is not about one particular race over another it is purely about inequality in the structures around us.. I advise you give this film a watch and make up your own mind on what side of the fence you sit.

As a white guy who's spent all of his life in England, it's hard for me to relate to most of the issues raised in this movie. However I feel the actors did a fantastic job of helping me see from the characters perspective, in what is undoubtedly tricky subject matter.

I found Russell Hornsby's portrayal of a father who's lead a colourful life, leaving it behind to concentrate on raising his children in what he sees as the right way, particularly compelling.

Amandla Stenberg was fantastic in the lead role. A teenager struggling to deal with the loss of a friend, and the injustice that follows. The feeling of barely contained rage was palpable in some scenes.

There is strong theme of societal injustice throughout the movie. The blame isn't placed squarely at the door of "white America" as some have suggested. The film doesn't shy away from gang & drug problems that plague communities across America & the wider world.

I feel like its a shame, that one of the few scenes that detract from my overall enjoyment of this movie, was the films most pivotal scene. I felt no real sense of injustice attached to this. If I was pulled over by a cop in the US, I'm doing exactly what he/she tells me. Instead the character Khalil (Algee Smith) decides it's the right time to have some fun with his friend Starr (Stenberg). This leads to his death, and while racial profiling certainly had a part to play in the incident, the actions of Khalil ultimately were what lead to his demise. Perhaps the way I view this scene says more about my place in society, or society as a whole, but it's hard for me to see it any other way. It's interesting that later in the film, a scene between Starr & her uncle Carlos (portrayed by Common) gives us some insight into what would have been going through the cops head as he carried out the traffic stop.

Overall I thought it was a good movie with some emotional & tense scenes, acted very well & is definitely one to watch.

This is an incredibly topical movie that addresses some very important social and racial issues that plague the American society. My problem here is that everything in this movie is so black and white (pun intended) that it loses its connection with the real world and helps perpetuate some stereotypes that aren't helpful for anybody. Now, I don't pretend to have the solution for these issues but I also am not sure that these kind of movies have them either. By making everything so morally easy doesn't help educate people that are faced with much more ambiguous challenges in real life and, for me, if they had made the movie more morally challenging it would make for a much more interesting and nuanced story. For example, my favorite scene in the movie is the short dialogue between Starr and her uncle when he gives her the cops point of view on the whole situation, but even that scene ends with a morally easy way out. I think this story needed more of those kind of scenes, where they would explore the ambiguity of the real world, and then, even if ambiguous, build an ethical point of view to try and do the correct thing and thus spreading your message through much harder scrutiny. On a technical note I think the movie is really well made and Amandla Stenberg was a revelation for me, as they needed someone who could carry the movie and she does a tremendous job, conveying charisma, strength and kindness, a very large emotional range for such a young actress. All in all I do think this is a good movie, even if it's preaching to the choir, that needed a bit more grey in a whole lot of black and white.