La Haine

Film: La Haine (Hate)
Genre: Drama
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Year: 1995
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, & Saïd Taghmaoui





"Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good... so far so good... so far so good. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land!" -Hubert

Without a shadow of a doubt, I can firmly say that La Haine is the greatest French film that I have ever seen. I first saw this film in my perspectives on film class, and it has left a great impact on me, and how I look at films. It's stark images, are fantastic, it's characters are compelling, and the plot moves along at a good pace, never dull, and gritty beyond normality.

The story of three young men, on the morning after Parisian riots against police brutality, you learn about each of them, and see what happens following a day of great violence. The protagonists are Vinz a Jew, Saïd an Arab, and Hubert an African, all of whom live in the projects outside of Paris. As the previous nights were plagued with riots, the three guys send much of their time walking around talking about what happened, Hubert is distraught because the rioters destroyed his gym, and Vinz is obsessively certain that he saw a cow wondering the streets during the mayhem. Though out the day, they see the effect the riots had on everyone's perspective, and the "hate" between classes, particularly between the lower-class and authority figures like the police.

Each of the three characters represents a different mindset. Vinz embraces his position in society, feeling that even though he is looked down upon by others, he is going to make the best of it, and try to make himself as credible on the street as possible. Hubert has the opposite opinion, he wishes to escape the projects, and make his life much better than what has been handed to him. Said is innocent in comparison to his two friends, he is largely ignorant to what is truly happening around him, and is always curious about everything.

Visually the film is fan-tabulous. To me, there is not a single dull looking shot, or something that feels out of place. The film's use of black and white makes it reminiscent of French New Wave films like The 400 Blows, or Breathless, but the subject matter is much darker. Shadows galore give this film a stark contrast, and allow the images to stick-out from the screen, and almost become a piece of art.

The film essentially is a character study. Though the three protagonists are young men, they are also little more than boys, in that they really do not have any control over their lives, and have never really known any truly serious situations, before the events of the film anyways. They go about talking smack about things they supposedly did, and you can just see them as a trio of twelve year-olds on the playground. In any case, I highly recommend this film, in the United States it is only available in the Criterion Collection, so it can be quite pricy, but Netflix carries it as well. Perhaps you should move this to the top of your list, and let Transformers 2 wait another week.

Memorable moments:

• While stuck inside inner-Paris the guys walk down a back street discussing who would win in fights between classic cartoon characters. Eventually it is noted that Jerry Mouse is a "brother," for everything he did to Tom.

• The guys crash a posh art gallery, taking more than their share of free food and drinks. Also, they critic the art, which is nothing more than random household objects glued to canvases.

• This monologue: