La Haine

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La Haine

La Haine cover, with the tagline Jusqu'ici tout va bien… ("So far, so good…")
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz
Written by Mathieu Kassovitz
Starring Vincent Cassel,
Hubert Koundé,
Saïd Taghmaoui
Music by Assassin
Distributed by Canal+
Release date(s) May 31, 1995
Running time 98 min.
Language French
Budget 15 million F (2.3 million €)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

La Haine ("Hate") is a film directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, released in 1995. It is released under its French title in the English-speaking world, although the American VHS release was entitled Hate. It is about three teenage friends and their struggle to live life in the banlieues of Paris .

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[edit] Synopsis

The film tells the story of three young friends in an impoverished multi-ethnic housing project in the aftermath of a great riot. Vinz (Vincent Cassel), who is Jewish, is filled with rage. He sees himself as a gangster ready to win respect by killing a cop, and models himself after Travis Bickle from the film Taxi Driver. Saïd - Sayid in the English subtitles - (Saïd Taghmaoui) is a happy and talkative Arab who tries to find middle ground between his two friends' response to life. Hubert (Hubert Koundé) is a black boxer and drug dealer. Most quiet of the three, he sadly contemplates the ghetto and the hate around him. He is probably the only one who has a minimum of consciousness about the state of things. He wants to simply leave this decadent world of violence and hate behind him but doesn't know how since he lacks the means to do it. A younger friend of theirs, Abdel Ichaha, has been beaten up by policemen after the riot and lies in a coma. Vinz finds a policeman's revolver in a sewer, lost in the riots. He vows that if their friend dies from his injuries, he will use it to kill a cop.

This sets off events that take the three down a path of destruction. They travel into central Paris from the ghetto to visit a rich drug dealer who owes Saïd money. As they begin to leave, they are arrested by police for trespassing. After missing the last train because of a purposely delayed release, the three friends find themselves, social outsiders, in the middle-class surroundings of the French capital. Trying unsuccessfully to return to their home, they are obliged to sleep in a shopping center. From the TV screens in the center, they learn that their friend Abdel has died in the hospital. Vinz is enraged and walks away from his friends twice, but the second time they are reunited when confronted by a gang of racist skinheads. When actually faced with the terrifying possibility of killing one of the skinheads, Vinz becomes sick and cannot do it. As day breaks again and they return home with the morning subway, a peaceful Vinz gives Hubert the gun.

Hubert walks away from Vinz and Saïd, but is drawn back to them when he hears a car pull up. When he sees that it is a police cruiser he runs to them, filled with fear. Vinz is harassed by the same racist police officer he met in the preface; the man's careless grip on his gun makes him accidentally shoot Vinz in the head.

In the final scene, Hubert points the gun at the cop, and the cop points his gun to Hubert. The end is ambiguous; Saïd closes his eyes and the screen fades to black, then a gunshot is heard.

[edit] Production

It is said that Kassovitz based the script on the actual death of 22-year-old French Arab Malik Oussekine, who was beaten to death by police following a 1986 university demonstration. However, in interviews Kassovitz has said that the idea came to him after a young Zairian, Makomé Bowole, was shot and killed at point blank range while in police custody and handcuffed to a radiator - the officer was reported to have been angered by Makomé's words, and had been threatening him when the gun went off accidentally.[1]


[edit] Video releases

La Haine was available on VHS in the United States, but was not released on DVD until the Criterion Collection released a 2-disc edition in 2007. The film has been shown on many Charter Communications Channels. An HD DVD version has also been released in Europe.

[edit] Awards

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0015-1386(199724%2F199824)51%3A2%3C44%3AH(H%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Wild Reeds		 César Award for Best Film
1996		 Succeeded by
Ridicule