La Haine
Directed Mathieu Kassovitz
Released 1995
Genre: Drama, crime.
Themes: Friendship, race, riots, police, conflict, poverty, boredom, masculinity.
In the world of French cinema where romance and dystopian views of society reign supreme in efforts to boost tourism rates, it's rare a film as brutal as La Haine will make it to any screens. This is why the realism of La Haine wasn't very welcomed by French audiences but was more of a success with western audiences. This may be in part due to La Haine's constant references to western culture with film references, fashion, music and many other nudges to the audience that turn our eyes away from all the lights of the Eiffel tower and to the seedy streets during the riots. The very first shot we see is a huge line of police officers, all huddled together protected being yelled at by a protester standing alone. This is a very powerful opening shot because the protester is actually much larger and closer to the foreground than any of the police and this makes him appear as more powerful. His voice is also the only significant audio we can hear and this combined with the protester's coverage of the screen makes the police seem small and cowardly, hiding behind their shield, afraid of but one citizen. The entire film is the opposite of a love letter to the police of France and was inspired by the death of an innocent at the hands of police and so it paints nearly all of them in this light. It's a very obviously biased movie. However the opening is constructed from real life footage with a reggae track 'burnin and lootin' (again appealing to a more western audience), and sets the tone for the rest of the movie's rebellious nature.
The conflict between the police and the lower-class citizens isn't the only conflict in the movie. Throughout nearly the entire film, there's an underlying butting of heads between Vinz and Hubert with Said in the middle. Nearly every time all 3 are on screen, Said is in the middle and Vinz and Hubert are turned away from each other in spite. This is due to Vinz' more aggressive, childish and hyper-masculine approach to dealing with the police, versus Hubert's more sensible and passive approach. By the end of the film both end up dead (presumably) which is an excellent comment on the lose-lose situation that is represented by the 3 protagonists.
Released 1995
Genre: Drama, crime.
Themes: Friendship, race, riots, police, conflict, poverty, boredom, masculinity.
In the world of French cinema where romance and dystopian views of society reign supreme in efforts to boost tourism rates, it's rare a film as brutal as La Haine will make it to any screens. This is why the realism of La Haine wasn't very welcomed by French audiences but was more of a success with western audiences. This may be in part due to La Haine's constant references to western culture with film references, fashion, music and many other nudges to the audience that turn our eyes away from all the lights of the Eiffel tower and to the seedy streets during the riots. The very first shot we see is a huge line of police officers, all huddled together protected being yelled at by a protester standing alone. This is a very powerful opening shot because the protester is actually much larger and closer to the foreground than any of the police and this makes him appear as more powerful. His voice is also the only significant audio we can hear and this combined with the protester's coverage of the screen makes the police seem small and cowardly, hiding behind their shield, afraid of but one citizen. The entire film is the opposite of a love letter to the police of France and was inspired by the death of an innocent at the hands of police and so it paints nearly all of them in this light. It's a very obviously biased movie. However the opening is constructed from real life footage with a reggae track 'burnin and lootin' (again appealing to a more western audience), and sets the tone for the rest of the movie's rebellious nature.
The conflict between the police and the lower-class citizens isn't the only conflict in the movie. Throughout nearly the entire film, there's an underlying butting of heads between Vinz and Hubert with Said in the middle. Nearly every time all 3 are on screen, Said is in the middle and Vinz and Hubert are turned away from each other in spite. This is due to Vinz' more aggressive, childish and hyper-masculine approach to dealing with the police, versus Hubert's more sensible and passive approach. By the end of the film both end up dead (presumably) which is an excellent comment on the lose-lose situation that is represented by the 3 protagonists.
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