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