Raw emotion is guaranteed to be evoked all the way through this film.
Based on the novel by Angie Thomas, the story is centred around Starr, a girl tangled between two worlds – one white, the other black. Each world demands a different version of her, and her purpose is to deliver.
Immediately, the character of Starr illuminates the inner conflicts of someone that most of us know very well. The code switcher. The you who speaks one way at home, and another at school. The you who allows people you barely know to touch your hair, despite not wanting them to. The you who changes their wardrobe to suit a particular context. Dipping in and out of variations of reality to ensure that you conform.
Starr’s ability and willingness to conform soon face the greatest test yet as a tragic event forces her true purpose to be questioned. This film addresses the cost of forcing cultural compatibility by highlighting how consistent limitations on diversity lead to greater misunderstanding, a lack of awareness and, as Starr discovered, violence.
Aside from the dialogue surrounding race relations in America, viewers are arrested by the beauty of a black father-daughter relationship, one that we rarely seen on the big screen. With her father’s unconditional love and support, Starr shines her light in a way that she never has before.
This film is a must see. Just take some tissues!
-Frederika Co, MA International Journalisms