The Hate U Give

An adaptation of Angie Thomas' popular novel for teens. Starr Carter (the phenomenal Amandla Stenberg) lives with her family in a dangerous, almost exclusively black neighborhood. According to her, if a girl from the neighborhood went to a public high school, she almost always ends up pregnant. That's why her parents sent her and her brother to a private school in a white neighborhood. Having to divide her time between two worlds means that Starr never really feels like herself. One evening, she goes to a house party, where she meets a childhood friend. As the result of a series of unfortunate events, the night does not end well.  The Hate U Give can be seen as a manifesto, a commentary on what Americans are facing in the here and now, especially Americans who aren't white. This film shows the mechanisms that determine which deaths make the headlines and which don't. In the end, it shows the emergence of a social attitude of taking responsibility for others, even strangers, but without glorifying popular slogans such as the "Black experience" or "Black Lives Matter." An important and much-needed film.