My father never instructed me on submissive, non-threatening procedure when being pulled over. Why would he? I’m white; the cops would give me the benefit of the doubt … whether or not I deserved it. That’s how this film opens. Yet there’s an even more telling example of white privilege in The Hate U Give: students at snooty Williamson Prep claiming solidarity for the local victim of a pullover-related police shooting to duck out of a biology quiz will make people like me cringe.
Yeah, that’s bad news; when someone protests from an insincere position, that undermines the whole thing. Such allows the racist Right to go nuts and insist that protestors are paid or some equally dubious claim.
White privilege is why Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) is at Williamson. At Williamson, the African-American teen can successfully avoid the violence, drug, and pregnancy issues at her magnet school, but there’s a price. She has to become Starr v 2.0, the girl who has black skin, but reveals no ethnic culture. She also has to endure endless cultural appropriation from white peers … which might drive me crazy.
In her home neighborhood of Garden Heights, Starr v 1.0 still drives the bus. Her Clark Kent appearance is familiar to friends and family; she has no problem fitting in at an all black party. When the party turns to violence, she exits with childhood Potterpal Khalil (Algee Smith). Their heartwarming Potter patter turns heartbreaking when Khalil is pulled over and shot by a white policeman. The details here are important because this is the essence of our national conversation and The Hate U Give knows it only too well – on an otherwise empty road, Khalil is pulled over for a lane violation. When Khalil’s attitude is less than ideal as per the officer’s perspective, the cop insists Khalil get out of the vehicle (Starr stays deferential in the passenger seat as per her father’s longtime instruction). The cop retreats to his own vehicle. Khalil reaches into the driver’s seat to retrieve a hairbrush, a show-off maneuver for Starr’s approval. The cop, perceiving weapon, shoots Khalil dead on the spot.
Questions:
- Was the officer right to shoot? If your answer is an unqualified “yes” here, I have no idea why you’d even bother reading this review.
- If you knew Khalil was a drug dealer, would that detract from any feelings of injustice you might have?
- Suppose Khalil had been reaching for a weapon … would the officer’s actions have been appropriate? The Hate U Give quizzed Officer Common on the following scenario – suppose not a black teen at night in the ‘hood, but instead a middle-aged white man midday in a ritzy suburb driving a Mercedes … suppose that guy reaches for a gun? Do you shoot first without so much as a “DROP THE WEAPON?”
- Here’s my own question – suppose the cop knows the illegal lane change is a bullshit charge and knows that in said neighborhood, pulling his weapon is a distinct possibility for even the most innocuous of interactions … is there a case for pre-meditated murder?
Let’s start with two understandings – the first is that police officers do indeed have a difficult job and might be required to make ugly choices in their line of work. No one is disputing this. The second is an understanding that we’re going to leave demographics and knee-jerk blame out of this next part. Here’s my thing: whenever somebody gets shot, there ought to be an investigation. I’m not saying guilt. I’m not saying innocent; I’m saying investigate; let’s find facts. Whenever the shooting involves an unarmed victim, that should be a next level investigation. And whenever there is a shooting involving an armed representative of law enforcement and an unarmed victim, there should be a high-level, independent, and very intense fact-finding investigation. That ought to go without saying. Otherwise, you have a police state, which is one of the major reasons our country exists in the first place.
If everybody felt the way I feel, there might be no need for a film like The Hate U Give. But we know this isn’t true. 2018 has been replete with examples of those who believe accountability only applies to perceived enemies; these folks are easy enough to spot – you can see them ramming Brett Kavanaugh through to the Supreme Court or constantly chanting, “lock her up!” Yeah, I get it; rules only apply to other people. Thanks.
That was a long diversion away from the plot, but it was necessary. Conversation-inspiring The Hate U Give is one of the best films of the year. There’s no question in my mind. It raises issues; if you’re not prepared to examine your own feelings and biases, pick a Disney, any Disney.
This movie is primarily about how Starr combats being two separate people, both of whom were the only eye-witnesses to a shocking, violent, and possibly race-motivated abuse of power. Despite the singular focus, this is the best ensemble acting of 2018. I fully expect Russell Hornsby to take a best supporting nomination for his role as the stern, no-nonsense, authoritative-yet-gentle Maverick Carter (Starr’s father). He was simply the best in a throng of good performances including the rest of Starr’s family (Regina Hall, Lamar Johnson, TJ Wright, Common), KJ Apa as Starr’s boyfriend, and Anthony Mackie as the local drug kingpin who is just as opposed as any white supremacist in seeing Starr give testimony. I fully expect both Amandla Stenberg and Algee Smith to have long, fruitful careers.
The Hate U Give, or “THUGLIFE” is inspired (initially in award-winning novel form) by the Tupac Shakur quote, “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.” The film discusses this quote at length. As I understand it, the words essentially mean: “what goes around, comes around.” The misery you impose, the misery you teach, the misery you inflict will be reflected upon you and your children as they age. When White America is confronted by the circular nature of misery imposed by systemic racism, it generally retreats like Mitch McConnell’s head back into his reptilian shell. No economic opportunity means drugs. It means drugs taken and drugs sold. Suppose Khalil lives. Do we applaud him for being a drug dealer? Of course not. But what if there is no opportunity for him to make another living? Suppose he does go clean, takes two or three jobs to make ends meet, has a family too early because his own single parent couldn’t afford Williamson Prep and American inner city high schools are an absolute joke. As a result, he spends less time with his own children than he ought to. God forbid he does time for a nonviolent possession charge. His own children wofeel the pain. The cycle repeats over and over again. THUGLIFE. And FWIW, I thought “THUGLIFE” meant something very, very different.
Plot details and court actions miss the point of The Hate U Give. This is a complex portrait of complex issues and possibly the most moving film of the year.
This is the movie Monsters and Men should have been.
This is the movie The First Purge should have been.
This is the movie All Eyez on Me should have been.
Without pandering or race-splaining, The Hate U Give deftly illustrates some of the ugliest features of American society while also showing there’s more than just pain and desperation behind them. I hope we will see past imdb to recognize this masterpiece as such.
********************
Notes: As has been the case with many “women” or “black” films of late, the Alt-Right has pre-muddied the waters of public perception. Literally hundreds of “viewers” rated this film on the lowest imdb rung before it had been released. Once again, the cowards of the Right have illustrated that they will happily tarnish anything so long as there are no consequences. Congratulations, boys. Enjoy your basements and tiki torches.
For me, 2018 has already become the best year in the history of African-American film. It wasn’t so long ago that an entire year of black film consisted of two Tyler Perrys, some terrible Wayans parody, and maybe two or three other films either describing black Christmas or the humor of sexual politics. Yeah, you might see a 3 or 3.5 star in there somewhere, but only if you added up all the ratings together. I don’t know how 2018 will turn out, but as of this writing, three of my top five films of the year (The Hate U Give, Blindspotting, BlacKkKlansman) are all African-American themed.
This is the third film in a row in which Amandla Stenberg has a white boyfriend. That’s a weird pigeon-holing, no? I am curious if there’s anything more to it than coincidence.
♪From the day of your first allegation
And unthinking, first handle a gun
There are more goofs to make and, for Heaven’s sake
More to flub than can e’er be undone
Yet just when you imagine you’ve conquered
Left your troubles right there on the ground
Oops, check your skin,
Cuz THE MAN won’t give in
Always there to keep your hopes drowned
It’s the circle of strife
And it keeps us small
Through despair it is
Generational
Till we know our place
On the path repeating
In the circle
The circle of strife♫
Rated PG-13, 133 Minutes
Director: George Tillman Jr.
Writer: Audrey Wells
Genre: Our screwed present
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Social justice warriors, film buffs
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: The Deplorables
♪ Parody Inspired by “The Circle of Life”
