Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds -- the poor, mostly black neighborhood where she lives and the wealthy, mostly white prep school that she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is soon shattered when she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend at the hands of a police officer. Facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and decide to stand up for what's right.
Like I've said before, I love films that relate not only to current events but also ones that tell a story in relation to these events. This is exactly what 'The Hate U Give' does, it chooses a fairly controversial theme of racism in modern day society within the police and takes it to much higher levels than a simple riot. This has been a hugely anticipated film ever since it was first announced, and with a great lineup of talented actors, surely this can only have a positive outcome? Not always, as we know films can be quite complex. Does this film follow that? Here are my thoughts.
I'll start off by covering arguably the most important aspect of any film - the characters. Not only were the characters introduced to us amazingly well but they were really well presented to us throughout too. The film started off with a great and powerful introduction, by using a series of actions that the children would need to do if they were pulled over by the police, not only did this shock the audience and gain our attention right from the very beginning but it also contributed massively to the overall culture presented within the film. It also helped to get us involved within the main family in the film and to immerse ourselves in their world, I think that it was a really effective way to begin the film because it really gave us a great introduction to the characters too. The characters were clearly worked on lots to ensure that they were down to Earth, relatable and that we had a good idea of who they were as people, through a variety of great and intense dialogue, developments in character relationships and the expertly done emotional aspect of the film and this just really helped to make the film a joy to watch. These character developments were unpredictable too and instead of being confusing they were actually really clear because of the great narrative, this narrative not only gave us a good idea of the current events in the film but it also helped to clear up any confusion regarding why different characters were acting in certain ways.
The character models were outstanding, sure they were introduced well to us, but they were exciting, realistic and just generally really engaging. They really helped the film too, from helping to evoke an emotional response, to simply entertaining us they were done really well. It also felt like each character had a real purpose and a specific role in the story line which I liked and this helped to personify Starr's decisions regarding her two lives that she was living - it was small elements like this that just really helped to wrap up the film nicely. But the characters were some of the most interesting and engaging that I've seen from films this year, when characters were sad or happy, we as an audience really felt these emotions and this was down to one reason. Because the character models were relatable and realistic, many of the character types matched personalities of people I know and the great dialogue just really helped to put this in perspective and re-enforce the message of the film.
Speaking of emotions, these were done amazingly well in the film. There were many really emotional parts that were made even more effective all because we had followed Starr's childhood and her life, seeing her grow up with certain people so we had a great idea of the type of person and experiences that she had. These really emotional scenes helped us to remember the clear point and message of the film, such as seeing Khalil's character in the seat on the jury, but this also helped to re-enforce the emotional response that his death caused and the problems that it was having on Starr and her community too. These types of scenes were just generally really upsetting too, I don't cry at many films but I was definitely close to shedding a tear in this instance, because it was really emotional seeing the emotional connection that Starr and Khalil had and how the impact of his death affected everyone. Although the girl I watched the film with seemed to be a bit closer to crying than I was, although I'm sure she won't mind me saying! These types of scenes were sad yes, but they were so effective at evoking an emotional response from the audience and they really made the film immersive and interesting to watch, it had some of the most powerful scenes I have seen from recent films - such as the speech scene that Starr made at the end about standing up for colour. Awesome editing features such as a simple mute or a overlay of the character talking whilst we see their still face and closed mouth all had a really exciting part to play in the film, as they helped to show that the film's message wasn't just from dialogue, the characters or the community, but from thoughts and the mindset of both the characters and the audience. The way in which this kind of connection was made was amazing, this film really communicated with the audience amazingly well - this just really helped to get us involved and therefore it made the film much more engaging and exciting for us. The film didn't have a plot as such but a story instead, if you've read my other reviews (if you haven't then make sure you do ;) ) then you'll know that I like films that tell a story, and I love how this film did this. It was such an emotional and gripping story line and we were taken through the events of Starr's life in such an immersive way that it made the whole film exciting, whilst not leaving any gaps or spaces for confusion. Admittedly the story was a little stereotypical, the immersive culture really helped to portray exactly what the film wanted us to think - this was done amazingly well through scenes such as seeing a white and black household's reactions to the news story about Khalil's death and the differences they had. Seeing rallies and people going to 'black lives matter' rallies to get out of school tests, these also portrayed the culture not just around racism but also societies thoughts towards this big issue that we face. My favourite part of the film however, was the strong and clear messages that the film tells and seeing the impact on the characters lives. There were multiple messages that were conveyed using really clever ways - from tattoos, to acronyms and these just generally made them fun and really helped to give them some meaning. The hate u give is an amazing film, unsurprisingly, it has a similar culture to another recent film that challenged racism in societ, albeit it 50 years ago; 'Blackkklansman' but obviously with some differences in plot, but I loved seeing the relevance to modern day values and if I'm honest, it was more of an experience than a film.
Of course, no film is without it's issues though. There weren't many bones to pick with this film, however one of the main issues I found was with some of the scenes and lines of dialogue in the film. There were some scenes that seemed to be unnecessary and irrelevant and just had the impact of making some scenes lengthy and slightly confusing, for example the argument at the party towards the beginning or the gun shots at the same event, both of these scenes took up quite a bit of time and they didn't really have much relevance in the bigger picture of the films plot, they just seemed to distract us from the main storyline. Some of the scenes were a little far stretched too, I understand the impact and importance of the child holding a gun at the end but it just didn't really seem to make sense for me, however maybe that's just my lack of understanding?
I also would've liked to have seen more of Khalil, he was such an important character in the film overall but he was hardly in the film really at all, so we didn't really get that good of a understanding of the type of person that he was - I really feel that more time should have been allocated to showing who he was and the importance that he had to Starr before he died instead of showing clips of them afterwards. Some character dialogue and developments in friendships were maybe a little sharp and unrealistic in the way that the characters felt and spoke to each other around the school environment but it wasn't really too much of a concern in that respect.
Overall, I would rate this film a 9.5. I thought it was an amazing experience seeing this film, the characters were amazing, the culture and emotions produced from the film were epic and effective. The overall story line was just really immersive and entertaining for us as an audience. I really enjoyed watching this film and I think that it was really well made and put together too. Of course there were some issues, such as screen time for important characters should've been changed slightly and the irrelevance of some scenes leading to time being wasted but honestly, if you can look over these small problems, then this is one of the films of the year for sure. I would definitely recommend going to watch this film, whether you want an emotional film, a thriller or even a comedy, this film has it all in heaps and will definitely leave you wanting to see it again!
Thank you for reading my review, I really hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing this review and watching the film. Also, as a side note, my apologies for the lengthy time between my last review and this one, I'm waiting for more awesome films to come out!! Thank you though and have a lovely day! :)
Comments