The Hate You Give Movie Analysis

Bravery, we have all had that exhilarating feeling that rushes over our whole body when we finally build up the courage to come over an obstacle in our lives.  No matter how many times we experience bravery,we still have to build up the courage with the help of peers, being inspired by a mentor, or having the wait of someone else on your shoulders and being afraid to let them down. In the film “The Hate You Give” the main character Starr witnesses the death of her childhood friend Khalil. She feels guilty about not coming forward about her other friend's death and feels that she has the obligation to get Khalil the justice that he & his family deserve. To receive justice Starr struggles and overcomes those struggles, in doing so she experiences the need to be courageous numerous times which gives Starr the confidence to use her voice and fight for Khalil. 

In the film, “The Hate You Give” , the nature of bravery is shown through Starr Carter as she continuously encounters situations where she has to be brave. She is a 15 year old African American who lives in a predominantly African American neighborhood called ‘ Garden Heights ’.  Her neighborhood has an issue with drugs and gang violence, most of this is caused by the “ King Lords” who are drug dealers within Garden Heights. At the beginning of the film Starr shows up to a party in her neighborhood. Later on at the party Starr sees her childhood friend Khalil. They chat for a little while, however gunshots are fired. People start to flee the party, Starr and Khalil rush outside to his car and get in. As they drive away Khalil says “ [ There is ] always some shit, man. [We] can't even have a party without somebody getting shot at. ”  While Khalil is driving Starr home a cop pulls them over because  “ [Khalil] failed to signal a lane change. ” The cop demands to see Khalil's ID and Immediately asks him to step out of the car. Khalil’s tries to refuse to step out of the car but Starr bravely urges him to listen to the cop. As Khalil is getting out of the car,  Starr has the audacity to try to pull out her phone and record what's going on. The cop is stern and tells Starr to “ Drop the phone now! ”, Starr’s phone drops on the floor of the car. Again the cop demands for Khalil’s ID and Khalil hands it over. The cop goes back to his car and Khalil starts fooling around. Starr urges Khalil to “ Get back where he told you. ” Khalil insists that everything is fine and grabs a hairbrush to brush his hair. BANG! Khalil is shot by the cop and unfortunately dies minutes after. After the incident Starr is at the police station being interrogated by officers. She builds up the will power with the help of her mother to tell the officers that “ One- Fifteen pulled us over. '' After Khalil's funeral, an activist named April Ophra shows up at Carter's home. April tries to convince Starr that she should publicly come out as the witness to Khalil's death to assure that he gets justice. Starr is afraid that if she comes out she might be judged at her predominantly white populated school. Although Starr has the courage to finally tell her family and April about who killed her other childhood friend Natasha. A few days after Starr is at school and her friend Hailey and many others start to use the protest about Khalil's death to get out of school. Starr gets upset with Hailey.  After Hailey and Starr’s argument Starr decides to come out as the witness and starts off with a TV interview. During the interview Starr’s face is blurred due to her being afraid that kids at school would find out she knew Khalil and she doesn't want to be known as the poor girl who saw her friend get shot. Starr mentions the king lords and Khalil why affiliated with them was due to “ [There being] no one to bring in money to help his little brother and his grandma who has cancer. ” The king lords find out that Starr snitched and now they are after her, but that doesn’t stop her from getting Khalil justice. Khalil's case is going to a grand jury and Starr is on the witness stand. She tells the jury everything she knew about Khalil and what had happened. Later on in the film Starr encounters a protest heading for city hall “[The] cop goes free. No trial, nothing The grand jury didn’t indict.” At this point Starr doesn't care what people think of her because fighting for Khalil matters more than what somebody else thinks. She finds April leading the protest. April asks Starr if she is ready to “ use [her] weapon. '' In Which the weapon is Starr's voice.  Due to all of the situations Starr has been through up until now she finally accumulates enough confidence and courage to finally openly come out as the witness to Khalil’s death. Starr shouts at the top of her lungs to the protesters that the situation isn’t about how Khalil died but it was “how Khalil lived. ” And how Khalil’s life matters. In the end one is able to spot that even if we come across bravery so often in our lifetime, it is still a challenge to build the confidence to be brave and take action in any situation. 

I can relate to Starr on a very personal level. Starr had another one of her best friends die right in front of her and was struggling with the loss of her friend but being traumatized because of how she had to witness his death. Just about a year ago my dad passed away from a possible drug overdose. When the time came to go to the viewing I had to choose whether to see his body or not. At first I decided I wouldn't go to see him. Although I thought about it for a few hours and realized that if I don't go I won't be able to say goodbye. So I decided to be brave enough to go and say goodbye. I walked into the room he was in, from right then and there I knew the image of him would be screwed into my head for the rest of my life. A few days after that I had to return to school, the whole time I was on my way there the thoughts of what had happened a few days before were running through my brain. I was going to return home because I was afraid of what kids would think if they had found out what had happened to my dad, especially being a native kid the stereotypes about alcohol and drugs can make things worse. In the end I made the decision to keep on walking because I care what people think of me? The choices of my father or the people around me shouldn't determine who I am.