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A Social and Political Critique on French Society La Haine (1995) director: Mathieu Kassovitz starring: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui As a critique on French society, a comment on the 1986 attack of a French-Arab by police, and simply a revolutionary work for actor/director Kassovitz, this film exceeds expectations and delivers more than any other film I've seen with these themes. The film is a shocking look at the lives of the people living in the French banlieues (slums). In the film we follow three young men, Vinz, a Jew, Saïd, an Arab, and Hubert, an African through their turbulent lives which end tragically with police violence. This film comments on important political and social happenings and through its narrative style and black and white cinematography, lets the audience feel the impact of the realism and understand the importance of the documentary-like style of filmmaking in relation to this topic. Kassovitz isn't a very established director, but he is great and proves his brilliance through this film alone. His most acknowledged role was probably in Amélie as Amélie's love interest, Mathieu. He is also known for his direction of the poorly executed thriller, Gothika and his smaller roles in films like Munich and Jakob the Liar. What Kassovitz did for France with La Haine is close to what Scorsese did for the US with Mean Streets. More similarly, what Kassovitz did is more close to what Spike Lee did with Do the Right Thing or what Kurosawa did with Stray Dog. Either way, Kassovitz adapted a style of filmmaking from his American predecessors, but also introduced a certain flair to it that made it original and uncannily realistic. The film opens with footage from the banlieue riots which the film used as a basis for its story. The film, following this footage, is shown in black and white and has a realism quality to it depicted most notably through it's stunningly impressive tracking shots. The film's visuals and stylistics ultimately give it a documentary feel which allows it to resonate with the viewers more, especially in relation to the banlieue riots. We are introduced to Paris' culturally diverse middle-class population in the beginning of this film when we meet the three leads. They represent the diverse racial population and lead us through the film's often violent events. After meeting these characters, we learn that the night before, a riot took place where a friend of theirs was arrested and brutally beaten by police. This isn't anything new to this slum, this happens very often. Police brutality is common in these banlieues. Their friend is near death and the three young men want revenge for their friend. Miraculously something turns up which Vinz takes as a sign to avenge his friend: a Wesson .44 that they find in the streets. They find out one of the cops from the riot the night before lost this gun, but Vinz doesn't plan on being a good Samaritan and return the gun, he has other plans. The intimate portrait of these three young men, especially Vinz, is fantastic; the character development is extensive and we learn a lot about these young men. Through their trials and tribulations in this film, we follow them like a magnet, only steps behind them for every move they make. This also adds to the realism of this film for we learn the true voice of the people (the people being represented by the culturally diverse group of lead characters) and their stance on the political and social problems taking place in the outskirts of the Paris banlieues. This film was so powerful and culturally significant in 1995, but even more so in it's tenth anniversary release in 2005. In October 2005, riots and other acts of violence erupted in Clichy-sous-Bois, a suburb of Paris. Cars were being burned as were buildings and this violent nightmare began spreading through other small communes in France. Over the twenty nights that his occurred, almost 3000 people were arrested and over 8000 cars were burned. La Haine is now associated with this event and came back to the surface of popular culture and other news due to its relation with the 2005 riots. Kassovitz only had the [then] Minister of Interior, Nicholas Sarkozy, to blame and cited him as a major problem in French society, sticking to his political and social critique from ten years earlier in this film. This film has become a very important and culturally significant icon in France. Unfortunately, it hasn't won a lot of recognition here in North America, but it is critically acclaimed and has recently been released on Criterion DVD which will allow more people to view this masterpiece. Kassovitz has created what is now one of my all-time favourite films; a stark, shocking and realistic portrayal of life in the Paris slums seen through the eyes of three racially different young men who are changed by the decaying society and end up in a battle for their lives. It's brilliant and strangely intriguing, I highly recommend this to everyone. It's a film which we all should see whether politics is relevant to us or not for it's a lesson learned in terms of ethics and morality. email this review to a friend
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