"This movie is masterfully crafted and acted, and more than that, it tells the story of a teenage girl, in all of her messiness, in all of her humanity, and the journey she undergoes to find her voice and use it. The Hate U give is personal."
When you hear the words
“movie adapted from a YA novel,” certain tropes and images may spring to mind:
dazzlingly attractive 25 year-olds playing teenagers, a vaguely evil futuristic
dystopia that demands conformity above all else, a special white girl rebelling
against the dystopia with a ragtag group of freedom fighters.
Here’s the plot of Angie
Thomas’s The Hate U Give, adapted
into the movie directed by George Tillman: Teenage Starr Carter is the only
witness in her childhood best friend Khalil’s murder at the hands of a police
officer, and she has to decide whether to testify on his behalf in the trial to
come. Here’s the first scene in The Hate U Give: when they were little kids,
Starr’s father, played with fierce love by Russell Hornsby, gives Starr (Amandla
Stenberg), her older brother Seven (Lamar Johnson) and her little brother
Sekani (TJ Wright) The Talk black families give to their children on what to do
when an officer approaches you or pulls you over. “Put your hands on the
dashboard,” Maverick tells his wide-eyed children, “Don’t make any sudden
moves.”
