The new movie “The Hate U Give” is about a subject that was inevitably going to made into a movie one day; Police violence and shootings of young black men in dangerous neighborhoods. The reason why this movie was brilliantly made is because it perfectly demonstrated both sides of this issue showing how difficult this problem always has been because of the complex gray areas involved.

Police are stopping black men either for cause or no reason and what follows is the understandable resentment and hatred the person stopped has toward the officer. There is no easy or obvious solution to this problem that has existed for many years. Within a dangerous neighborhood, a high percentage of young black men who are stopped by a Police officer own a gun, the officer is terrified of being shot and because of this the tension levels are extremely high. Under circumstances like this, as is explained so well by the actor Common, who plays a police officer in this movie, the officer in some cases reacts out of fear of being shot and so he has no choice but to react. The solution is to train police officers to be better at their jobs and never overreact in any situation. Then the person stopped should follow the officers instructions exactly, never argue or give the officer any reason to fear for his life. An opening scene in this movie shows a black father telling his children if they are ever stopped by the police to put their hands on the dashboard of the car and follow the orders of the officer.

This excellent film is not about the cut and dry shootings of young black men that are entirely about racism, but rather about the difficult problem of police officers trying to do their jobs and black people trying to just live their lives and are unjustly targeted by the police only because they are black.

The Hate U Give stars an upcoming young actress Amandla Stenberg, who is so outstanding in her lead role that she might just win an Academy Award nomination this year for best actress. Other actors in this movie are Common, Anthony Mackie and Regina Hall and all are outstanding in their roles. The screenwriter for this movie is Audrey Wells who tragically died this year of Cancer at only age 58. I predict she will get a nomination for best original screenplay and this film could just win the best picture of the year.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating for this movie is an almost perfect 96% and I agree with this rating. The Hate U Give gets my highest recommendation and it will definitely nominated for best picture this year.