Review: The Hate U Give

Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) lives in two worlds. Her home is in the rough and mostly black neighbourhood of Garden Heights, but by day she goes to the mostly white and well-off Williamson Prep private school, where she ditches her hoodie and any attitudes or turns of phrase that might make her seem “ghetto” – even if her dorky white friends are doing it - to become "Starr version two". 

It's a prime set-up for a culture clash comedy. But this is a film (based on the best selling YA novel) with a lot more on its mind, as becomes clear when Starr meets up with old friend Khalil (Algee Smith) at a neighbourhood party, only for them to be pulled over by police later that night. Khalil was driving her home after a fight broke out at the party; turns out they might have been safer there.

Then things get complicated: the police want to make what happened about Khalil’s drug dealing for long crime kingpin King (Anthony Mackie) – who used to be partners with her father Maverick (Russell Hornsby) before he got out of the life. If she testifies, it'll go public and her life at Williamson will collapse; worse, her family will be under threat from King. If she doesn’t speak up, justice will be denied and she'll have to live with the burden of her own silence. 

There's nothing easy about Starr's choice, and there's nothing simplistic about this film. Everything here is firmly rooted in character; at first Starr's worry is about losing her friends - including white boyfriend Chris (K.J. Apa) - and it's only later as she's forced to face again and again the wider issues around police violence and her community that her viewpoint grows.

Rather than glossed over, other points of view are addressed and argued down. Starr's best girlfriend at school is pretty much the whitest girl alive (with "that poor cop might lose his job" views to match), but even she isn't a completely one-dimensional bad guy, and Starr doesn't treat her as such (until there are no other options). As the political side of things evolves, this expresses the changing situation through the characters and their shifting reactions; the good guys grow and learn, the bad guys spout catchphrases or stay focused on their own interests.

There's a strong supporting cast, but this is Stenberg's film and she gives an outstanding performance, tracking Starr's journey with a note-perfect slow burn as she goes from a quiet, head-down type to someone willing to stand up for her friends memory even when things get tough. Even during the occasional moments when the film hits a flat patch (George Tillman Jr.'s direction gets the job done, but rarely adds anything to any given scene, which can be a problem when things are required to get tense), she's never less than totally committed.

The Hate U Give is relentlessly topical without being simplistic, telling a personal story that's dramatically political. At over two hours it covers a lot of ground, but not a single moment feels wasted. There's a lot more to YA fiction than just bad science fiction and romance, but for a while now that's the only material that's been brought to the big screen. Hollywood needs to cast their net wider: hopefully this excellent adaptation is just the beginning. 

- Anthony Morris