 |
|
|
|
La Haine (1995)
 email this review to a friend
Movie Review by Jarrod
November 6th, 2007
|  |
'La Haine' means hate, and that emotion is what drives most of the characters in this powerful film from Mathieu Kassovitz, about disaffected youths in France, or more specifically, disaffected non-white youths in France, since race plays a major role in the story, which looks at how immigrants (most of them from former French colonies) fit in with the rest of society, and I would imagine it is just as relevant today as it was a decade ago, since the presence of Muslims and Africans in France has been a contentious and heated issue as of late, with the improvement of the National Front's political fortunes, a party committed to radical nationalism that espouses racism and xenophobia, as illustrated by its charismatic leader, Jean Marie Le Pen. Vincent Cassel is Vinz, a Jew. Hubert Kounde is, well, Hubert, Vinz's black friend, a former sailor, and apparently also a boxer. He lives with his mother, and would like to move out of the slums and into the city, to change his life for the better. Said Taghmaoui is Said, an Arab, presumably from North Africa. The three of them stick together, occasionally defend one another, from the cops and the skinheads, both of which seem to terrorize minority neighborhoods with alarming regularity, though the case could be made I guess, that these neighborhoods are full of crime, which the cops must respond to. But what causes this crime? Poverty and unemployment are the primary factors. Vinz, Hubert, and Said do not have jobs.
They are young and restless, angry at the system, which they find oppressive, and education is not emphasized since that would do very little to boost their career prospects. Why couldn't they get jobs? Does it have to do with discrimination? It might on the one had, but France often does struggle with unemployment, and immigrants and minorities offer unwanted competition for work that is already scarce. Vinz swears to avenge Ahmed, who was arrested and tortured by the cops, but he is still alive, though not in the best condition. If he dies, Vinz plans on shooting a policeman. The film has a very gritty, gloomy, and depressing visual style, done in black-and-white. There are some scenes I feel are simply gratuitous, but the performances are intense and wonderfully convincing, and Kassovitz makes some very accurate and painful observations. Overall, a very good and provocative movie.
email this review to a friend
Comment on this Review:
Sorry, you must be a member to add comments to reviews.
Join or Login. |
 Subscribe to MatchFlick Movie Reviews through RSS
|
