Film: La Haine
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Country: France
Released: May 1995
Runtime: 98 minutes
Genre: Drama
Studio: Les Productions Lazennec
Influenced: Spike Lee, Catherine Corsini, Gus Van Sant, Nicolas Winding Refn, Fernando Meirelles
Mathieu Kassovitz was inspired to make La Haine (Hate) by real-life incidents of young men getting seriously injured while under interrogation by police in the Parisian suburbs, including the story of a youth set on fire in the basement of his housing estate. While the film is about urban alienation and police brutality, it is not anti-police in its outlook, just pro-justice. La Haine opens with archival footage of the Paris riots, which were particularly severe between 1986 and 1996. The film is a powerful exploration of social and racial tensions in the impoverished suburbs ("banlieues") surrounding Paris. Built from the early 1960s onwards, these "cités" (estates) were designed to house the working classes on the periphery of the city, near to the factories where they worked. However, economic decline led to widescale unemployment and a growing sense of anger and disappointment, which erupted into riots in the mid-80s.
Shot in black & white, which adds to the film's stark and gritty atmosphere, La Haine's narrative follows three friends – Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Hubert (Hubert Koundé), and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui) – over the course of 24 hours in the aftermath of a riot in their housing estate. Two of the three main actors (Hubert and Saïd) actually grew up in these estates, while Vincent was raised in central Paris. The characters of Vinz, Hubert and Saïd are from different ethnic backgrounds (Jewish, African and Arab, respectively) and represent the diverse population of the "banlieues". They navigate the streets, interact with various residents and grapple with their own feelings of frustration and anger. The trio also have several run-ins with the police, including a hard-hitting scene in which Hubert and Saïd are beaten up and humiliated in a police station. Vinz, in particular, is consumed with rage and threatens to seek revenge on the police if their friend Abdel, who lies in a coma after a police beating, dies.
La Haine's soundtrack, composed by Philippe Haïm, features a mix of hip-hop and electronic music that complements the film's urban setting perfectly. Kassovitz also chose evocative songs by Bob Marley and Isaac Hayes, while the film also features a great scene starring famous French DJ, Cut Killer, who creates an evocative mix of American rapper KRS-One’s Sound of Da Police and Edith Piaf’s Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien. This iconic scene concludes with an incredible remote helicopter shot over the housing project. Kassovitz employs several stylised tracking shots in the film that zoom in on the main characters, while other elements of the film's unique style include the time lapse stamps and the plentiful background graffiti. Iconic scenes include Vinz wearing a hoodie and practicing his menacing Travis Bickle impression from Taxi Driver in front of a mirror, and the memorable rooftop scene where Vinz contemplates the consequences of his actions with a powerful monologue.
Kassovitz structured the film like a long day's journey into night, with Vinz finally giving up on his fantasy of using the gun to shoot a police officer and instead handing it to Hubert. The film ends with a tragic, tense encounter between the trio and a group of police officers. As well as the drama, the film also has moments of absurd humour, such as the cow that appears several times. Kassovitz himself argued repeatedly that the appearance of the cow has no greater symbolism than being his private greeting to his anarchist grandfather and the old radical slogan: “Mort aux bourgeois! Vive l’anarchie! Vive la Commune! Mort aux vaches!” La Haine received critical acclaim and won several awards, including the César Award for Best Film. It was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, while Kassovitz won the Best Director award at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. The film is dedicated to the memory of Malik Oussekine, a young student who died during a police protest in 1986.
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