TAKING its title from the cautionary message inked into rapper Tupac Shakur’s THUG LIFE tattoo, George Tillman Jr’s emotionally charged drama rages against racial division and police violence in a 21st-century America which affirms its constitutional right to bear arms.
The Hate U Give is sensitively adapted by Audrey Wells from Angie Thomas’s young adult novel, which chronicles the anguished rites of passage of a teenager, who finds her voice in the most tragic circumstances.
Amandla Stenberg delivers a gut-wrenching lead performance as Starr, 16-year-old, who zigzags uncomfortably between worlds of white privilege and black indignation.
Her family try to give her a bright future sending her to a predominantly white prep school. But her world is shattered when he witnesses a white police officer shoot her unarmed childhood friend,
Racked with grief, Starr shoulders a heavy burden to speak up for the deceased.
However, testifying against a cop could lead to reprisals.
Tillman Jr’s film ripples with fury and despair, but there is an undercurrent of hope that courses through every handsome frame.
THE HATE U GIVE
(12A, 133 mins)
Starring: Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Anthony Mackie, Common
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