The Hate U Give is an intriguing story based on a young adult novel by Angie Thomas, the screenplay was adapted by Audrey Wells (who unfortunately passed away from cancer the day before the film's release). While the film provides another look at racism in a modern context, I can't help but feel that the story--which was originally written to relate to the black youths--has been changed to instead cater towards a whiter audience.
The film follows Starr Carter (portrayed by Amandla Stenberg) who live in "the hood" but goes to a more upper class (read: white) school in order to have the education to be able to escape the hood. After her childhood friend is shot dead during a routine traffic stop, the balance in her life is thrown into wack.
The Hate U Give does a really good job at showing the perspectives of certain members of the caucasian community. The sense of superiority, the youths using certain slang to appear cool, but also the innate sense of fear that they feel towards the black ethnicities. It builds this world that closely mirrors what has been occuring in the United States. A prejudiced society that is still looking over its shoulder long after slavery has ended. As such the film is certainly good at portraying the white policeman as the victim, despite him being the one that has ended another person's life.
Where the film is more hit-and-miss, is its portrayal of the black communities. While there is definitely a strong emotional story--a result of a fantastic acting performance from Stenberg--much of the remainder of the cast are written as rather one-dimensional stereotypes. The lack of development in these supporting characters on the black side, makes them less relatable, and soils the aim of the story. It does still bring many conversations and ideas to light that the more privileged society may not be aware of. The opening scene for example talking about how to act during a traffic stop really highlights the small things that are taken for granted when we have lighter skin.
The film is well shot, and has some great colour grading, showing the clear separation between Starr and Starr 2.0, with the warmer, high saturated colour scheme in the hood scenes, and a more neutered, blue filter in the highschool scenes.
I enjoy films that bring racism to the forefront, and with racism and prejudices formed mainly from stereotypes and false assumptions, I would have loved to have seen more fleshed out characters and a much less biased portrayal of the black community. That being said, The Hate U Give still has a function, and it serves as a great introduction to the topic of covert racism and microaggressions in a manner that doesn't feel like an attack.
There are some great themes on responsibilities, family, and the notion that our actions form the future actions of our children. A good beginner film for those that want to open up discourse about racism, but The Hate U Give only goes skin deep.