ALL LIVES MATTER (THE HATE U GIVE)

It is very easy to dismiss teenagers as being image obsessed, social media hounds.

Anyone with a bit of sense knows there are plenty of socially aware teens who care about society.

In recentvtimes, a spate of films have proven teenagers who are just as engaged as adults about important social and political issues and do not hide behind smartphones or tablets.

Stephen Chbosky's 'The Perks of Being A Wallflower' tackled the difficult issue of child abuse in 2012 within the confines of a smart, well acted, relatable teen drama.

Josh Boone's romantic drama 'The Fault In Our Stars' also scored a huge hit in 2014 tackling the tough topic of teenage cancer.

Greg Berlanti's 'Love, Simon' broke new ground last year as a teen romantic comedy with a gay lead character in what has been seen as a big leap forward for the depiction of LGBT characters onscreen.

2018 saw another huge leap for teenage cinema.

George Tillman Jr's 'The Hate U Give' tells the story of Amandla Stenberg's African American teen from a troubled neighbourhood who attends a privileged white Catholic prep school. But don't rush to judgment.

This is is not one of those Hollywood movies designed to inspire audiences about the transformative power of education for a kid living in the ghetto.

Tillman' Jrs movie instead tackles head on the most challenging issue blighting US society - racism.

To be precise, the film is interested in the issue of institutional racism and the killing of young African Americans by police officers.

Based on the novel by Angie Thomas, Stenberg plays Starr, a bright kid from an African American neighbourhood called Summer Heights who attends Williamson Prep because her mum, Regina Hall's Lisa Carter wants her to reach her full potential.

At the start of Tillman's movie, her dad Russell Horsnby's Maverick takes his young children, including Starr, through a drill of how they should behave if they are ever stopped by the police - especially white officers.

The drill includes placing your hands on the dashboard at all times so the police can see you have no weapon.

Starr leads a double life as she tries to engage with teens in her neighbourhood and her school.

At school, Starr has a devoted white boyfriend, KJ Apa's nice guy Chris who is keen to meet her parents and she hangs about with Sabrina Carpenter's Hailey and Megan Lawless' Maya.

We also see her at a party in her neighbourhood with Dominique Fishback's Kenya whose father, Anthony Mackie's King is the head of a crime gang that deals drugs.

Those worlds collide when Starr runs into a childhood friend and her first crush, Algee Smith's Khalil at the party which ends abruptly when shots are fired.

Khalil and Starr flee in his car but they are pulled over by a nervy white police officer.

The policeman orders Khalil out of his car and ends up shooting him when the young man reaches for a hairbrush inside, believing it to be a gun.

With Starr due to be asked to appear before a Grand Jury who will decide if the case will go to trial, she faces pressure in her own community to stand up to the police but she also feels increasingly alienated from her friends at school and how they react to the killing.

It helps massively that Tillman Jr is working from a perceptive script penned by the screenwriter and director Audrey Wells, who passed away a day before it premiered in cinemas.

However Tillman Jr draws strong performances as well from his cast- most notably from Stenberg who shows a maturity beyond her years and Hornsby who was also so good last year in Netflix's shamefully axed drama 'Seven Seconds'.

Regina Hall also impresses as Starr's mother, Alger Smith engages our sympathies as Khalil and Anthony Mackie is a menacing presence as King.

Common is also effective as her police officer uncle Carlos, Lamar Johnson as Starr's half brother Seven does well and Sabrina Carpenter is very good as a fellow pupil who has no idea of the racial barriers Starr encounters.

The film in some ways is like a teen drama created by Ryan Coogler  Spike Lee or John Singleton.

While the urban Californian setting recalls 'Boys N The Hood' and 'Fruitvale Station,  the film that most springs to mind is Lee's Brooklyn drama 'Do the Right Thing' with its uncompromising look at racism.

In many ways Starr resembles a teenage version of Lee's own character Mookie, trying to live peacefully alongside white characters but forced to choose sides when confronted with institutional racism.

But to Tillman Jr and Wells' credit, they do not flinch from showing another oppressive scourge on many communities - the gang culture that profits off addiction and rules by fear.

Like Lee's movie, they work hard to ensure that not every white character is not a bigot but they are frank about the challenges racism poses to US society.

'The Hate U Give' is an informative, well made, well acted drama which shows teens how division can take root at an early age.

But like all great teen movies it should strike a chord with older generations.

After the horrific news coming out of Christchurch this morning its message of tackling hatred at an early age has even more resonance and is clearly not limited to the United States.

('The Hate U Give' was released in UK, Irish and US cinemas on October 22, 2018 and on DVD and streaming services on February 18, 2019)