The coming-of-age movie has many forms, they can be light and funny like The Way Way Back or more serious like American Honey. The Hate U Give also fits in the genre, but mixes this with events of police violence like Fruitvale Station or Blindspotting did, which results in a movie with a lot of feeling, strength and pain.
Starr (Amandla Stenberg) is a teenager growing up in Garden Heights, a poor neighborhood where drugs are dealt and gangs are active. To make sure she has a chance to make it in life, she goes to a white school, far away from her neighbourhood. She presents herself differently than she actually is to make sure she doesn’t stand out. When she goes to a party, she meets a childhood friend, Khalil (Algee Smith). When someone starts shooting, the two flee together in Khalil’s car. Along the way they are stopped and Khalil is shot by a police officer because he thinks Khalil has a weapon. Starr is the witness who has seen everything, but telling her story is dangerous because Khalil also sold drugs and the local drug boss (played by Anthony Mackie) doesn’t want her to keep her mouth shut. In addition, Starr also knows that everyone at school will find out she’s from a bad neighborhood, which will make her the center of attention. It’s a difficult choice that could potentially turn her whole life upside down.
With a strong cast (ao Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Common) The Hate U Give tells a story that unfortunately can be seen on the news too often. Thanks to an impressive role by Amandla Stenberg, who puts an enormous amount of emotion into her performance and is therefore able to carry the film, you as a viewer sympathize immensely with Starr. She wants a normal life, but thanks to the special circumstances in which she finds herself, she struggles with different emotions. How should she behave at home / at school / at the police / in the neighborhood, what should she say and what not? It makes this a highly effective film with a lot of drama and energy that managed to impress me, even though it contains various elements that you could label as a cliché. Yet The Hate U Give is more than its individual separate elements and therefore highly recommended.
[score8]