Entertaining, informational, and relevant

Rating: 9/10 (1 September 2015)

Let me begin by saying that I am a young white female. This movie was not meant to relate to me and in most ways it does not. However, I still found it extremely entertaining. I, like most people can relate to an underdog story.
I sat on the edge of my seat when there was any tension between cops or rival gangs. I listened to the lyrics and laughed as the rappers slung witty insults at each other. I felt for the characters and found myself rooting for them. I found myself wanting them to be successful and thinking "Yeah! F*** the police". This movie was able to draw even me (being as sheltered as I am) into situations I've never seen, in a time before I was born.
As I watched the movie I found myself wanting to know more about the people whom this movie was based on. I spent more than an hour on Wikipedia and Google. I read biographies and watched interviews. I found a lot of truth behind the movie which leads me to believe much of it is based in reality and taken from several points of view. This is something I look for when watching movies based on actual events. I want to know I watching history and not just dramatizations.
The hardest part about watching this movie was bearing witness to the police brutality these young men faced. For a moment I thought "But, it must be different now." Then I was instantly hit with the reality that police brutality (especially based on race) is ever present in many communities. My hope is that people watch those scenes and realize this is still happening. The fight for racial equality is not over.