La Haine (1995) Mathieu Kassovitz

First impressions of the Film and its characters

Make notes on the following: did you like it and why, did you hate it – why?

Who are these characters and what did you think of them?

Film Narrative

Apply Todorov’s theory of equilibrium to the Film

Equilibrium –

Disruption to the Equilibrium –

Attempt to repair the equilibrium –

New Equilibrium –

Would it be possible to apply Propp’s theory of character types to this film?

Hero

Villain

Helper

Donor

False Hero

Princess

Social Historical and Political

Below is a list of contextual factors, try to comment on their relevance to the film and how you read it.

Social, historical and political Contexts

The projects or, les banlieues:

Les banlieues are satellite ‘new towns’ (for which read housing estates for the poor) up to twenty miles out of Paris that almost seem designed to keep the poor out of the middle-class centre of the city

o The ‘new town’ in which La Haine was filmed had at the time an official population

of 10,000 made up of sixty different nationalities or ethnicities o

These are stereotyped in the media as places of urban deprivation crime and drug use.

o

The French Empire and Imperialism...

France was a major colonial power in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with colonies in Africa, the Carribean and Sout-East Asia.

o The struggle for independence was particularly bitter in some countries such as

Algeria (which gained independence in 1962) and Vietnam (where the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954).

o Some colonies, like Martinique, remain and are able to send representatives to the

French Assembley. Other former colonies, like Senegal, remain closely linked to France and French culture.

o French policy towards non – white ethnic groups has always been on of

‘assimilation’ with people being expected to take on French cultural norms and values. Many Algerians, Moroccans Tunisians, in particular, who went to France to work during the 1960s, have to a greater or lesser extent resisted this policy.

o

Maintaining the purity of the French language both at home and abroad was given a much higher priority than the British gave to upholding the English usage in their colonies

o Verlan, or ‘backslang’, began around Paris in the 1980s, among second generation

ethnic minority young people who saw themselves as positioned between their parents’ culture and French culture.

o

Racism

Immigration was limited by the French government during the economic crisis of the early 1970s.

o Fascist far-right groups (as in many other European countries during the period)

have consistently blamed unemployment on immigrants.o

In the 1980s the National Front began to win some local elections and even parliamentary seats, especially in South and Southwest France.

o Those who administered Vichy France during the Second World War collaborated

in sending French Jews to the concentration campso

Kassovitz’ father (who himself fled Hungary in 1956) was the son of a concentration camp survivor.

o

The Police and Racism

There are two main police groups in the film: the neighbourhood plain clothes police and the riot police

o Racism (as in the UK) has been seen to be a particular problem in the police force.

o There were over 300 deaths in police custody or from police action from 1980 to

1995 when the film was made

Social and Historical Context

Below is an article taken from the Guardian newspaper illustrating that this problem is still relevant ten years on.

Highlight and annotate it showing its relevance to the film

Riots continue in Paris suburbs

Staff and agenciesWednesday November 2, 2005

French police clash with youths as vehicles are torched in riots at Aulnay-sous-Bois, near Paris. Photograph: Travers/Le Floch/EPA 

Violent clashes between police and immigrant groups in the suburbs around Paris have continued for the sixth consecutive night with scores of cars set alight and nearly three dozen people arrested overnight, officials said today.

Police in riot gear fired rubber bullets at advancing gangs of youths in Aulnay-sous-Bois - one of the worst-hit suburbs - where 15 cars were burned. Youths lobbed molotov cocktails at an annex to the town hall and threw stones at the fire station, despite appeals for calm yesterday from the French prime minister, Dominique de Villlepin.

Four people were arrested for throwing stones at police in nearby Bondy where 14 cars were burned, the prefecture said. A fire engulfed a carpet store, but it was not immediately clear whether the blaze was linked to the suburban unrest.

Officials gave an initial count of 69 vehicles destroyed in nine suburbs across the Seine-Saint-Denis region to the north and north-east of Paris. The area, which is home mainly to families of immigrant origin, most from Muslim north Africa, is marked by soaring unemployment and social unrest.

The interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, told Europe-1 radio that police detained 34 people overnight. Mr Sarkozy - blamed by many for fanning the violence with uncompromising language and harsh tactics - defended his approach and vowed to restore peace.

The rioting began on Thursday after two teenagers, aged 15 and 17, were fatally electrocuted and a third injured in a power substation. There have been claims, denied by officials, that they where were hiding to escape from police.

Mr Sarkozy caused uproar by calling the rioters "scum" and continued to defend his stance in an interview in today's Le Parisien newspaper in which he said the current policy dealing with poor immigrant communities had failed.

"The reigning order is too often the order of gangs, drugs, traffickers. The neighbourhoods are waiting for firmness but also justice.... and jobs," he told the paper.

An Associated Press news team witnessed confrontations between about 20 police and 40 youths in Aulnay-sous-Bois with police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Officials said that "small, very mobile gangs" were harassing police as well as setting fire to rubbish bins and vehicles throughout the region.

France-Info radio said some 150 fires were reported in rubbish containers, cars and buildings across Seine-Saint-Denis.

Yesterday, Mr de Villepin met the parents of the three teenagers, promising a full investigation of the deaths and insisting on "the need to restore calm", the prime minister's office said.

Despite that, tension continued to mount after young men torched cars, garbage bins and even a primary school the night before. Scores of cars were reported burned on Monday night in Clichy-sous-Bois, and 13 people were detained.

Youths set two rooms of a primary school in Sevran on fire on Monday along with several cars, the mayor, Stephane Gatignon, said in a statement.

Mr Sarkozy's handling of the situation has been criticised within the conservative government. The equal opportunities minister, Azouz Begag, said he "contests this method of becoming submerged by imprecise, warlike semantics".

For three decades, successive governments have injected funds and launched projects but failed to improve the lives of many marginalised communities in suburban areas.

Special reportFrance

World news guideFrance

Make notes on the documentary of La Haine (2)

Close Study Analysis

Falling metaphor (00:50)

Can you explain this metaphor of falling and its relevance to the historical context?

The opening credits and the footage of real life rioting are accompanied by Bob Marley and the Wailers’ song Burnin and Lootin.

What is the significance of the song and the connection to the historical context?

Said’s and Vinz’s introduction (5:12)

Comment on camera movement and mise en scene in the first scene of the film.

Describe Vinz’s room.

What American references are there in these scenes?

What do we learn about the two characters and their background in these scenes?

What does Vinz’s relationship and conversation with his family tell us?

Hubert’s introduction (10:35)

What do we find out about Hubert?

Hubert at home (33:57) Cut out Vinz and Said in the Shops

Comment on:

His room

His relationship to his family

His actions

Describe what Hubert sees as he looks out of the window

What is the relevance of the DJ and where else can we see this relevance in the film?Park Scenes (18:55) Shop Scene (23:00)

Describe the Mise en scene.

]

Comment on micro and macro elements in the scene, their relevance and connotations.

Toilet (48:25)

What is the relevance of the mirrors shot at the start of this scene?

What is the argument between Vinz and Hubert about?

What point do you think the man in the toilet is trying to make?

Interrogation (103:25)

What is the relevance of Vinz in the cinema before this and the connection to this scene?

Comment on the micro and macro elements of this scene.

On the roof (121:24)

What is the point of the clock all the way through?

Who does Said see and what does he say?

What does the shot of the tower show?

What is the meaning of Vinz’ statement, “I feel like an ant in intergalactic space”?

The End (130:30)

Comment on micro and macro elements of the end of the film:

Questions that La Haine Poses/Answers

How do you think that the film attempts an answer to these questions through the narrative?

Does the government do enough for people in the working class and estate environment?o

What is there for people to do on the estate?o

What are the causes of crime?o

How does society feel about minority groups?o

What is the result of police brutality?o

What impact can political figures have on society?o

Reviews of La Haine

Using reviews answer the following questions (do this by highlighting and annotating the reviews):

What were the different scenes identified in the comments? What was it about these scenes that the viewer particularly enjoyed or disliked?

What did the comments say about the story of the film? Was the subject matter something that the viewer could relate to?

What was said about the stylistic elements of the film?

Was the director mentioned, and if so, what was said about the directors style of film making and their other films

Do the viewer comments tell you anything about the target audience for the film?

What did you find out about the historical context (how the film relates to the time in Paris when it was shot) of the film?

1

User Comments:

12 out of 15 people found the following comment useful:-Great achievement. One of the most unforgettable Euro movies of the 90's., 17 May 2002

Author: Bogey Man from Finland

La Haine aka Hate is a story about three friends living near Paris in France (one Jew, one Arab and one black) who have nothing special in their lives and try to live a day at a time by

drinking and having a good time and also working (at least the black character, who owns a boxing hall). Their friend, however, is captured by a police which tortures and maltreats him so badly that he is sent to a hospital in a critical condition. This makes the youth gangs in city including the three protagonists start a war against the police and authorities for the horrible wrongs they and their friend have suffered, and suddenly they notice the whole society is collapsing, and all there is is hate and need to revenge...Violence and mayhem is almost everywhere, including authorities which should do nothing but fight against it..

This film is powerful and grim. Totally unforgettable is the last scene which at my first viewing time blew me away. It comes very suddenly and there are no warnings what will happen at the end of this film. The message is so important and these marks of the "apocalypse" can be found in our everyday life everywhere. The society is falling and it is "spinning" as the voice over says just before the end credits..The film brings into question such horrific facts as racism which should have passed away long times ago, but no. Racism is such a primitive, stupid and despisable cancer among people, that there is no hope of better future if individuals don't understand the real facts of life and right ways to live with each other. Hate feeds hate as the character Hubert says, and that is something that our stupid race has not learned.

There is one very powerful scene just before the end scene and it deals with a skinhead and these three characters who could kill him right away and pay something back. It is very challenging scene and even Vinz, the most revenge seeking character, starts to see things different way after that. The whole point of La Haine is violence in all its forms. Why there is violence and why the hell it is used so often everywhere in every form? Don't we ever learn? These kind of films are important and so powerful that unfortunately people who should see them don't want to or they can't bacause it would be as a mirror for them..

The film is also a comment on power used by police as they are pretty tough and hard in this film. Police think that they can use any methods in order to get some answers, or in order to have some fun..It certainly doesn't judge police as "pigs" or violent sadists in general, but it is a warning example of what must NOT happen anywhere ever, by police or by others. One has to see through the film and to its core in order to understand what it says. Otherwise there is no point in watching these kind of films. La Haine is that kind of a film that it should be seen by police and youths as well, because there are still possibilities to prevent things to go too far in our life and world we live in.

The camera techniques used in this film are magnificent. Director/screenwriter Mathieu Kassovitz uses camera so smoothly and passionately and there are many similarities in techniques between this film and his more recent, Assassin(s). I am very happy for this young talent to have won the director's award at Cannes. These kind of talents deserve their prizes because there are so many stupid and worthless films which don't have nothing artistic in them and have nothing to say, and are just mindless and greedy entertainment. The black and white is very great element and the film strikes greatly without colors. The same case is with the Belgian classic Man Bites Dog, by Remy Belvaux, Benoit Poelvoorde and Andre Bonzel.

A great masterpiece in French modern cinema and recommended for the fans of intelligent and important cinema so seldom found from big studios or Hollywood (there are exceptions, of course) nowadays.

10/10

2

La Haine

(Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995)  

La haine (Hate), which brought Mathieu Kassovitz, in his twenties, the directorial prize at Cannes, centers on three friends living in a Parisian housing project.  A Jew, an Arab and a black African, the youths represent groups that a culturally self-involved society prefers to keep at its outermost fringe.  They are “kept” there in rather attractive style, though; Americans may have trouble identifying these boys, by American standards, as deprived, given the impressive livability of their subsidized housing.  Nevertheless, the boys themselves

feel alienated.

Their alienation consolidates their sense of kinship.  Strengthening both are their constant confrontations with a common antagonist: the police, whose harassing forays into the projects suggest an invading army, a swarm of bloodthirsty mosquitoes.  (Again, the French police are Milquetoast compared to their American counterparts.)  Now the police are holding and interrogating a buddy of theirs.  When this comrade dies in police custody, one of the boys, in chance possession of a dropped police pistol, explodes; but, in the intriguing way Kassovitz portrays this train of events, the precise causality remains murky, the detained boy`s death a nearly subliminal trigger, just one more contributor to an incendiary atmosphere.  But it`s the straw that breaks the Jewish boy`s back.

Let`s get out of the way an inference preposterously drawn: that this boy is Kassovitz himself, who is also Jewish.  Mathieu is, in fact, the son of Peter Kassovitz, the photographer and filmmaker.  His has been no disadvantaged life.  Still, Mathieu can certainly relate, making his Jewish character a surrogate along the lines of “under other circumstances, this could have been me.”  After all, Mathieu`s father is a Hungarian immigrant, and French anti-Semitism runs deep.  But, in literature and film, biographical or autobiographical equations generally fail to hold true; with absolute justice, Tennyson insisted that the speaker of In Memoriam wasn`t entirely himself, and Orson Welles maintained that Citizen Kane wasn`t William Randolph Hearst.  Not that Hearst could grasp the accuracy of Welles`s declaration.  Or wanted to.

Moreover, such speculation distracts from Kassovitz`s finely suggestive analysis of how a social situation of violence evolves.  Indeed, his exposition in this regard greatly improves on its botched antecedent in Spike Lee`s desultory Do the Right Thing (1989), one of a number of films Kassovitz draws upon.  If nothing else, La haine functions as a corrective to the American film, suggesting what Lee`s gaudy extravaganza might have achieved had Lee been less interested in parading pretty pictures and venting his chic bile, and more interested in actually detailing an instance of ghetto violence.  Lee, if he has the capacity to do so, could learn a lot from the French kid.  Other filmmakers could, also.

But not, were he alive, Akira Kurosawa, whose Stray Dog (1949) is another of the films influencing Kassovitz`s.  It is from the violent plot of this brash, moody police thriller that Kassovitz has drawn the stray police pistol; but the allusion is wholly unwarranted.  For La haine leaves alone the kind of postwar social analysis that commands Kurosawa`s interest. 

Kassovitz isn`t after a complex understanding of the pop-off situation—the point of violence—that he, unlike Lee, so closely and admirably describes.  Rather, he pleads a case and a cause.

Shot plainly, in black-and-white, the result is agreeably minor.  La haine is a simple, highly watchable documelodrama that builds casually to an explosive finale.  It`s also a testy film, tinged with arrogance; a part of its youthful charm is how deftly it draws one into the circle of its bias.  Our heads may carp that the sort of kids whom the film follows would, in reality, have something to do with the rotten course of their lives; but the fiction of their total victimization the film, by its lightness and lack of self-pity, makes exceedingly easy to give in to.  La haine reminds me of an East Side Kids bottom-of-the-bill feature from the 1940s—in a more sophisticated incarnation, of course.

Kassovitz`s sincerity and sympathy, however, do not cover everything.  Given the film`s essential naturalism, the minigang`s multiethnic composition is a tad convenient.  Moreover, crass stereotyping compounds the convenience; we are given a Jew who is private and moodily intense, a sociable and foolishly fun-loving Arab, and a gooily mama-lovin’ black African.  Of greater consequence than this cornball distribution of familiar traits, though, is the insufficient attention the film pays to the dynamic of the boys’ increasingly incorrigible behavior—on the mistaken assumption, perhaps, that a full and open airing of these brats would take an unjust society off the hook.  On the contrary, the film`s single-mindedness—its refusal to allow these children even the slightest complicity in their own behavior and their downfall—calls greater attention to its reductionism and leads directly, in fact, to the film`s most grievous mistake: after nicely entertaining us, at the last La haine “goes didactic,” with an absolutist coda referring to a civilization going down for the count.  Ho-hum, the sky is falling.  Oy.

This conclusion is just slapped on—much as, much earlier, the junior-grade moral crisis, where the boys ponder whether to exchange their “play-tough” mischief for decisive violence, is simply slapped in.

Kassovitz has a lot to teach Spike Lee.  Also, he has a lot to learn himself.

Dennis Grunes

3

Reviewed by Stella Papamichael Updated 04 August 2004

Contains strong language, violence and drug use

It's been labelled French cinema's answer to Boyz N The Hood, but La Haine (Hate) has a flavour all of its own. Writer-director Mathieu Kassovitz butts European urbanity up against American street style as kids clash with cops in suburban Paris. The result is an explosion of

scathing social commentary and dynamic storytelling. Delving into the generational, racial, and class divides of his native France, Kassovitz offers a fearless - if unreservedly pessimistic - attack on the frontlines of power.

During a riot in the outskirts of Paris, police beat an Arab teenager (Abdel Ahmed Ghili) into a coma, fuelling a fire of hatred inside Vinz (Vincent Cassel) - a Jew who swears to "whack" a cop if the boy dies. It's left to Vinz's cohorts, the jocular Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui) - also Arab - and subdued African boxer Hubert (Hubert Koundé) to talk him out of his bloody plan as they embark on a loafing odyssey from the immigrant neighbourhoods to the big city. Still, the time bomb keeps ticking.

"A FATALISTIC ACCOUNT OF SOCIETY'S DECLINE"

Counting down 24 hours, Kassovitz never gives the illusion of a happy ending. This is a fatalistic account of society's decline and it's plainly one-sided - the only cop who shows sympathy for the "troubled youth" is ineffective among an army of bigots and bullies. Evidently Kassovitz sees things in black and white, which might explain his choice of a striking monochrome print.

But it's the conviction and bold invention with which Kassovitz tells the tale that makes it utterly compelling. Despite a meditative pace, there are shades of Scorsese in his kinetic camera moves, and in a scene lifted straight from Taxi Driver where Vinz poses in the mirror with a gun, snarling, "You talkin' to me?"

Playing Vinz, Cassel radiates with a blistering intensity throughout, while Koundé offsets him with a cool self-assurance. Taghmaoui also turns in an outstanding performance, offering comic relief to balance the otherwise unbearable tension. Superbly acted and brilliantly executed, La Haine will tear through you like a bullet.

In French with English subtitles.

4

Twisted suburbia

Review from Frostieuk about Haine, La, 20.10.04

Author's product rating

Advantages pace, style, originality

Disadvantages keeping up with sub-titles

Summary:

Full review

Director: Mathieu KassovitzStarring: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili, SoloRunning time: 97 minutes

Summed up in a sentence:Tension builds to a devastating climax in the Parisian suburbs.

The bigger picture:Kassovitz's highly acclaimed film was re-released in the cinema to coincide with its final release on DVD. Both events should help this classic movie gain a whole new audience, as well as re-igniting the passions of the original one.

Based on the experiences of three young men, La Haine dispels the myth of a glitzy, idealised Paris, showing instead the raw grittiness of its dangerous suburbs, where violence and disorder are the mainstay for the youth living there. While the tourists queue to climb the Eiffel Tower and Paris charms its residents and visitors alike with its beauty and vitality, the suburbs soak up the city's problems like a veritable sponge. Tucked out of sight, the marginalised and impoverished lead a completely different life - one that hasn't been given a voice before now.

The film was shot in black and white which gives it a definite raw edge and makes the streets look grimmer and the characters more edgy. Vinz, Said and Hubert form the ethnically diverse but equally disenfranchised core of central characters and we follow them as their difficult daily lives are played out to the backdrop of rising tension in the neighbourhood.

The acting is superb and the direction powerful, leaving you totally immersed in the lives and circumstances of the leads.

5

"Hate breeds hate"

Review from mmintfresh about Haine, La, 12.06.03

Author's product rating

Advantages Thoguht Provoking story, Excellent Direction,

Performances

Disadvantages Not many people have seen it

Summary:

Full review

Kassovitz’s La Haine follows roughly a day in the lives of three young men Vinz (Vincent Cassell), Said (Saïd Taghmaoui) and Hubert (Hubert Koundé). They all live in a depressing

housing estate consisting of sterile tower blocks just outside of Paris. Tensions run high because the estate is basically a dumping ground for people on the bottom rung of the social ladder. The estates contain a wide range of ethnicities, Vinz is Jewish, Said is Arab and Hubert has African roots and they reflect the population of their home. The tension in these estates are not created, however because of the wide range of cultures present it is with the police and the upper class French society that dominate almost every other French film. The film opens with a collage of films made up of riots from about the 70’s to the riot that happens at the beginning of the film. We don’t see, however your typical riot with innocent police officers confronted with a crowd of yobs aching for a fight, the roles are reversed. The very first line in the film is “It‘s easy for you to shoot us, we‘ve only got rocks” and this sets the tome for the film. The police don’t respect the people in the estate. The story itself starts with the story of a young Asian man (Abdel) who was beaten whilst in police custody and in a critical condition. He was a friend of Vinz, Hubert and Said. Vinz wants revenge for this and tells Hubert and Said that Abdel dies he will kill a cop with a cop’s gun he found in a riot. Hubert and Said become worried for their friend Vinz who seems to be becoming increasingly more violent and unhinged (he brags about beating a police officer in a riot) and the fact that he has a gun makes him like a ticking time bomb. La Haine is a film that I heard bits about but didn’t really feel compelled to watch. One day I managed to see it and was impressed by the film but forgot about it. I then got a chance to see it at the cine ma and after this second viewing realised that La Haine is much more than the American Hood films that it is often, unfairly compared to, but a thought-provoking, insightful and intelligent film. The direction of the film is very interesting, long takes, interesting shots and some brilliant editing and makes the film extremely stylish. In some films, this can be a drawback because this can either overshadow a story or be put it to make a b-grade film seem better. La Haine, fortunately doesn’t fall in

to this category. Kassovitz’s (probably more well known for his role as the lead in Amelie) compliments the story with his interesting decisions. One very interesting technique, which adds a lot to the tension of the film, is his decision to insert title cards, which indicate the time of day paired with the sound of a ticking clock. This creates the illusion that the film is a time bomb and leaves the audience unsettled and on the edge of their seat as it builds to it’s brilliant climax that will leave anyone who watches it gob smacked (I will not give it away). His direction also helps the audience to get a good sense of the dismal environment that the three protagonists inhabit. He also manages to inject some comedy and lighter moments into the film for example when Vinz gives Said and haircut and completely messes it up The plot itself doesn’t have a great deal of things happen in it of any real significance but that is the whole point. Kassovitz hasn’t chosen to make an escapist film but one based on reality (the ending was inspired by a real event and the film shot in one of the real estates) and that reality shows how boring and hopeless a situation the people who are living there are in. The three characters themselves are all likable and draw a lot of sympathy from the viewers however they are all flawed and this makes them a lot more real. With the other characters Kassovitz also avoids stereotypes. The acting in t he film is also top standard and adds to the semi documentary feel of the film. Cassel, the most successful of the three most recently seen in Noe’s brilliant Irreversible makes Vinz both likable and dangerous but doesn’t go over the top. Taghmaoui puts a bit of comedy into the film as Said but also can be serious and quite tragic. Koundé is Hubert the most mature of the three and makes him a likable character as well forced into a life he desperately wants to escape. La Haine is a film I would highly recommend because it is a great and engaging film with a serious message about the state of France today. The only downside to the film is that not many people will watch it because it is French, also the subtitles (in the Tartan release) have been Americanised so the character of

Asterix has been changed to Snoopy and things like that. La Haine is also dismissed as a Boyz in the Hood type film which is also an unfair comparison. All I can say is see it now.

6

The world is yours...

Review from markisverycool about Haine, La, 07.06.03

Author's product rating

Advantages realsim, shot wonderfully, will teach you above

society

Disadvantages under rated, under classed, under seen

Summary:

Full review

...This is what the billboard poster reads as Vinz, Siad and Hubert walk past it yet, one simple spray of a "v" to an "n" and the wolrd becomes thiers. The simple reason for this is that the film "La Haine" draws you into to world of the projects in Paris rather than let you glide elegantly between the Champs Eleisse and the Eiffel Tower like so many early Hollywood and French films tried to do.

The genious diretor Mr Kassovitz takes us on a documentary style trip into the lives of 3 of the most obscure and yet joined frineds in the projects. Vinz is a jew, Said is an arab n Huberts'black.yet each repressents morethan any other character in the history of French film,what France today embodies. Not jews or arabs but people displaced and mistreated throughout. The film itself follows one very eventful day in the lives of these friends and tracks thier progress from A to B. Yet thepointthat the films makes and that Kassovitz drives home to us is that A is B and B is A. There is no escape from the projects and from the lifestyle they lead. Even when the 3 manages to find themselves stranded ina part of paris which they never go to, a part which is richer and has more prospects... they still have those instincts from which they canot escape... they trash the art gallery. Even hubert, the sensible 1 of the 3 cannot contain his upbringings and steals a credit card. This point of entrappment is rammed home by the small yet poinant role of the french/eastern european gentleman in the toilets. He himself tells a story over 50 years old which too tells of no escape, no matter how hard you try. The reviews for this film call it "an urban nightmare shot like a dream" yet i see it as a slap in the face for French and international viewers alike. Ask yourselves this... why else would the president of France call together his cabinate...just to watch this film... As must see for all those who believ e the world they live in is actually the world they live in.

So far, So good...So far, So good...

Review from She-nobi about Haine, La, 14.01.03

Author's product rating

Advantages original, innovative, intelligent

Disadvantages underexposed, underappreciated

Summary:

Full review

La Haine opens with a shot of a Molotov cocktail falling in slow motion towards the earth and a voice-over is heard relating a joke about a man falling from a skyscraper repeating to himself “So far, so good…So far, so good”. This joke is retold at the end of the film, employing the dramatic technique of circular cohesion that is often effective with revolutionary satires, but with the term “society” replacing “man”. This tells us the question the film is posing is ‘When will society fall?’

The main body of the film follows three young men living in a deprived area of Paris, a setting that provides journalistic juxtapositions, such as the three sitting on a rooftop at night staring at the Eiffel Tower in the distance, a symbol of the romanticism and grandeur of the city unobtainable to the characters Said, Hubert and Vinz (played by Vincent Cassel, recently seen in the disappointing Brotherhood of the Wolf).

The film takes on a ‘day in the life’ feel as everything and nothing happens as the men go about their random existence. The mood is one of profound lack of purpose and the frequent frames of black with the time displayed in digital format add to the sense of a countdown to a revolution. It is also bleak following the violent scenes of riots that form the opening credits, in which one of their number, Abdul, has been injured and is critically ill in hospital. It is this need for retribution and his possession of a policeman’s gun obtained in the riot that fuel Vinz’s increasingly violent nature. He swears to murder a “pig” if Abdul dies and his internal moral struggle is a main thread of the film. It never becomes clear that Vinz ever spoke

to Abdul, let alone was his friend, but I sense that the injured man is a beacon for the frustration and injustice he feels towards the authority that has failed him. There are scenes that convey Vinz’s unbalance d state of mind, such as talking to himself in a mirror a’la Taxi Driver and the fact he sees a cow in the street which no-one else seems to notice.

Vinz’s internal struggle is depicted externally by the roles of the other characters, Said and Hubert, as they make up the three components of a personality. Applying psychoanalysis, each character represents the Id, the immature violent reactions of a child (Vinz), the Superego, the rational side that employs reason (Hubert), and the Ego, the halfway point that consults the extremes and decides what to do (Said). A scene outside a police station in which Hubert and Vinz are arguing and Said is caught in the middle trying to pacify them both illustrates this. As the film progresses this mental balance shifts as the characters undergo a series of changes, and (without wanting to give away the ending) we realise the answer to the question is society collapses when reason is lost and violent tendencies take over.

The majority of the movie is shot on monochrome film (that’s black and white to non-English students), which serves to create a documentary feel and reinforces the bleakness of city life, however the drama of La Haine is anything but bleak. Scenes such as Hubert and Said on the receiving end of police brutality and a violent attack on a nightclub bouncer involving a flare gun are almost painful to watch, and yet carry a subtlety and taste as we experience the shock through the main characters’ eyes. The tone of the film is such that we maintain an objective view of the events whilst still responding emotionally to what we see. As an audience we are constantly called on to make judgements on the action, making this a fascinating and involving cinematic experience.

As a good film should, La Haine displays original flare and

innovation in its camerawork. Shots such as a close-up of a bathroom mirror that uses angles to include all three characters even though they are in completely different parts of the room, and an aerial shot of a housing estate that seems only possible with the use of a mini-helicopter are testament to the effort made by director Kassovitz to push the medium forward. La Haine comes as a breath of fresh air not just in cinema as a whole but as a change from the majority of French cinema, which often focuses on Paris as a romantic and glamorous setting, and seems pre-occupied with the sex comedy (yawn). Many French filmmakers seem to shy from the subject of race, and the difficulties of the black, Jewish and Asian cast are prevalent in the story. La Haine really is a great film and you may not realise that the first time you see it, I didn’t, but your appreciation grows with repeated viewings, so a salute to Kassovitz for producing a paced, political, satirical drama with moments of humour and artistic flare that keeps me noticing new things every time I see it. Today’s cinema is in dire need of more films like this.

Power

From what you have learned during the course of studying this film, try to write as much as possible about the following points:

What is Power in this film? Who has the Power? What happens when you have no Power? Can you gain Power if you have none?