ReelBob: ‘The Hate U Give’ ★★★★½

By Bob Bloom

“The Hate U Give” may frustrate you because it does not offer simplistic solutions.

The movie, based on the best-selling novel by Angie Thomas with a screenplay by the late Audrey Wells, embraces the #BlackLivesMatter movement with a tale of a teenage girl caught in the middle of a controversial police shooting of an unarmed black teenager.

The tone of the film is set from the outset when Maverick Carter (Russell Hornsby) gives his young children, Starr and Seven, “the talk” — the instructions on how to conduct themselves if stopped by a police officer.

Keep your hands on the dashboard, and do not act confrontational. In other words, don’t give them an excuse or provocation to shoot you.

From there, the movie jumps a few years forward where we are introduced to Starr (Amandia Stenberg), Maverick’s now-teenage daughter. Starr, who narrates the movie, tell us about her life. She and her family live in Garden Heights, a black section of a city (that goes unnamed). Her dad runs a local grocery store, and her mom, Lisa (Regina Hall), is a nurse.

Starr and Seven (Lamar Johnson) attend the Williamson School, a private institution on the other side of town.

Starr explains how she is two people: At school, she is Starr Version 2, with perfect diction and no “ghetto slang.” She has two white classmates with whom she is close and a white boyfriend, Chris (KJ Apa).

On the weekends, however, back in Garden Heights, the real Starr emerges. She parties with her black girlfriends and uses the same slang as they do.

The psychological toll on Starr is telling. Stenberg’s physical performance displays her uneasiness and how she is always on guard in both worlds.

Starr’s life is drastically altered when, after accepting a ride home from a party from her childhood friend, Khalil, they are pulled over by a cop (Khalil changed lanes without using his directional signal.) Khalil is fatally shot when — after being told to stand still with his hands on the car — he reaches into the driver’s side window to grab a comb — which the officer believes is a gun.

As expected, the shooting sparks anger and demonstrations within Garden Heights.

As the sole witness, Starr is under immense pressure: Her parents and the local drug kingpin, King (a one-dimensional and nasty Anthony Mackie), want her to remain silent and not get involved because it may be revealed that Khalil worked for King.

Community activists, led by April (Issa Rae), want Starr to testify before a grand jury.

Starr is torn, not knowing which road to choose. Meanwhile, she is stung by the hypocrisy of her white classmates who use one of the marches for Khalil as an excuse to cut school.

And she is fearful for reprisals against her family, if she does speak out.

The movie rests on young Stenberg’s shoulders, and she ably carries the load. You feel for the torn teenager who is pulled in so many directions.

But most of all, she is devastated by how various factions are using her dead friend — focusing on his death, rather than how he lived and why he chose the life he led.

“The Hate U Give” works to present the story in a balanced manner. The police officer who did the shooting is not demonized — in fact, he is barely seen after the incident.

Instead, we meet Starr’s uncle, Carlos (Common), a police officer who speaks for the law enforcement side.

In the kitchen of his house, Starr asks Carlos if, on duty, he stopped a white man wearing a suit and that man reached into his car, would her uncle shout a warning to show his hands or shoot immediately.

Carlos, hesitates for a moment, looks Starr in the eyes and tells her he would shout the warning first.

His answer devastates his niece. It is a poignant moment that helps explain the complexity of the issue from those behind the badge and the gun who put their lives at risk daily.

A devastating moment in the last reel involving Starr’s 10-year-old brother is so impactful, it nearly stops your breath. It is simultaneously near-tragic and triumphant.

If “The Hate U Give” has one drawback it is the finale, which wraps everything up too neatly, allowing you a sigh of relief.

Perhaps it is needed; perhaps, not. But it does offer a glimmer of hope — and that is a life jacket we need to cling to very tightly these days.

I am a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

THE HATE U GIVE 4½ stars out of 5 (PG-13), thematic elements, violence, language, drug use

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MM8OkVT0hw