Zora Thomas
Contributing Writer
“The Hate You Give,” a PG-13 rated movie based after the creation of the book “The Hate You Give” by Angie Thomas, was released on Oct. 19, and is still in theaters now.
The thrilling, well-scripted movie kept viewers on edge with lots of drama and conflict. I would rate this film a ⅘ , because its good plot and acting skills left me in awe.
“The Hate You Give” shines a bright light on police brutality, specifically against African Americans in America. Amandla Stenberg plays Starr Carter, a teen whose life at home is drastically different from life at school. She battles dealing with gang violence, maintaining friendships and the safety of her family all while trying to cope with the pain that was caused after losing her childhood friend, Khalil, played by Algee Smith.
This isn’t Sternberg’s first time acting in a film. She also had roles in ‘The Darkest Minds’, ‘Everything Everything’, ‘The Hunger Games’ and more. Smith was featured in ‘Detroit’, ‘Earth to Echo’ and ‘Let It Shine’.
This movie is aimed at teenagers, considering its lead character currently goes to high school and is there for many parts throughout the movie.
One scene shows that after Khalil was shot by an intimidated police officer, students tried to become more involved with ending police brutality. They did so by hosting a protest in Khalil’s honor, but viewers eventually see that the protest was just an excuse to leave school. Perhaps this scene was made to show how teenagers are far more concerned with missing school, than another death caused by a policeman.
There is some controversy against this movie being “white-washed” because the character Starr, is supposed to be a medium-brown skinned African American, as shown in the book; however, Amandla is not.
Debra Cartwright, illustrator for “The Hate You Give” said, “It’s really funny because when I just did the deal with Fox, they needed a derivative because the actual actress looks so different from the description in the book.”
However, despite this issue, “The Hate You Give” was a drama-filled adventure that may inspire more people to actually get involved in stopping police brutality and help stop more issues like this from happening.
The movie was not only released to the U.S., but also to the U.K., Ireland, Brazil, Australia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Belgium, which gives plenty of movie reviewers the opportunity to comment on this two-hour and 13-minute film.
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