The Sunday Mail
TEEN dramas are a dime a dozen (so abounding as to be valueless).
But the 2018 film “The Hate You Give” proves to be one of the best and eye-opening instalments of the genre.
On the surface, this is a review many months too late.
However, for a couple of reasons, it is one of the most heartfelt and honest reviews I will ever write.
Let us start with the huge elephant in the room.
My immediate superior went to great lengths to dissuade me from using the “life imitating art” cliché, but “The Hate You Give” is exactly that.
The film is a well-woven coming-of-age story that tackles issues to do with racism, bigotry, class struggle and race appropriation.
It stars a slew of recognisable black movie actors like Regina King (Lisa Carter), Russell Hornsby (Maverick Carter), Anthony Mackie (King), Mr Woke himself (Common), Issa Rae (April Ofrah) and Amandla Stenberg.
Based on a novel of the same title by Angie Thomas, the film tells the story of Starr Carter, a 16-year-old American girl from the make-believe town of Garden Heights, who witnesses her childhood friend Khalil get gunned down by an overzealous rookie cop during a routine traffic stop. Sounds familiar?
One night, after a party, Starr (Stenberg) gets driven home by childhood friend Khalil Harris (Aglee Smith) and they are stopped by an overzealous officer for failure to signal a lane change or something.
During the stop, Khalil is frisked and searched, gets told to leave his car while the cop runs his licence in the system.
Unfortunately, the young man reaches for a comb in his pocket, which is interpreted as going for a weapon and gets shot in cold blood.
The black community goes wild in protest, especially after learning the said officer was not indicted.
While race and police brutality dominate the movie’s themes, there are delicately balanced by many solid and well-developed sub-plots.
This helps the movie veer off from the Spike Lee and Tyler Perry Black Entertainment Cinema (BEC) productions.
Stenberg shines in the lead role as Starr, a young girl who is struggling, just like any other teen, to find herself.
Her father is a strong black man who, from the opening scenes, told her to always be proud of her heritage.
For most of the film, she manages to balance coming from a poor, black neighbourhood and having a white boyfriend that she hides from everybody.
That all comes to naught when it is discovered that she is a witness to the crime and the black community decides to make her the poster girl of the fight against racism. Combined, this makes some spellbinding viewing.
Even Mackie does a good job with his limited lines.
Shout out to Common who nails the part of conflicted uncle and police officer.
His debate with niece (Starr) on many perspectives of Khalil’s death is arguably the best scene of the entire movie.
I could not help but mirror this film’s main theme to the recent and tragic death of George Floyd in the United States. Here are my two cents.
First of all, silence and indifference are the biggest obstacles to progress and if we are to reach some level of utopia and racial tolerance, we need to be able to talk about certain issues.
That the United States believes the Floyd incident is an American issue, which should be addressed only by Americans, is just plain ignorance and a clear show of double standards.
This is a nation that is always interfering in other countries internal affairs.
Besides, the Covid-19 pandemic confirms we are a global village.
Also, it appears that many do not seem to understand the mantra behind the “Black Lives Matter” movement, if some of the ignorant tweets I have come across on social media are anything to go by.
It is a direct response to white privilege. For those calling on Floyd’s alleged criminal history, and the supposed fake note as a defence to the police brutality, then it seems like they do not understand the reasoning behind the protest and outrage. “The Hate You Give” can help give a little insight.
Floyd is just another face in the long list of black people victimised because of their race or colour.
