La Haine

The quality of this film on HD format via Prime is brilliant on my TV. This film just gets better and better and feels even more relevant.

Paris, 1995, and Mathieu Kassovitz's La Haine is finally unleashed on a public, who are now starting to be aware of the problems in the suburbs. Many critics didn't know what to make of it, and others passed it off as pure violence against the police; no one was looking at Vinz, Hubert and Saïd - a small selection of youngsters living in the suburbs.Vinz, of Jewish descendant, thinks he's the tough guy, impersonating Robert De Niro in his mirror, he thinks killing a cop will justify it all, after all his mate Abdel was shot by the cops in the estate during a riot. He thinks he can solve everything with violence.Hubert, or Couin Hub, is a black African, he's a lot more thoughtful, and wants to get out of the area as soon as he can. He boxes in the gym, which he worked hard to pay for. He is really annoyed that his life is being ruined by others who are out to just torch things, not really in the name of political uproar.Saïd is a guy who just wants to get on with what he wants to do, not be bothered by others and just mess around. He doesn't have any political agenda; he just enjoys going out with girls and getting drunk.Here we see a typical day of their life, from sitting around the estate telling silly stories, being chased by the police and the rowing and arguments they have with themselves and others in the area and Paris itself.This is worth a watch, the black and white is very watchable, and shows us their lives as reality rather than fantasy; Vincent Cassel is one of the best in my opinion, showing us why other directors have spotted his talent from this very movie. I also liked Hubert, he put a sober view on life and the way he doesn't subscribe to violence just for the sake of it is refreshing. I didn't like the police violence in the police station, but I see its purpose, though whatever bias it shows, it shows that sometimes these things do happen, and consequences should arise from it. It's believed that there were complaints from the police over it. I did like the old guy in the loo though, telling us about his friend - had a great moral to its story the boys totally missed.This is quite an impressive DVD collection too, plenty of behind the scenes stuff, even in colour and commentary from Kassovitz himself. I am not bothered about the subtitles - as I speak fluent French being half French myself, but I did notice they were not as good on the VHS cassette I had for my Media Studies A Level. There's also a CD with the soundtrack, though strangely the other half is for Metisse, another film about urban problems and love. The quality of the transfer is good and the picture is good for the budget that was available, same can be said for the sound.Worth buying, it's a real eye-opener.

France in the 60s and 70s was quite prone to looting and rioting, young students not happy with the conditions they were living in. High rise buildings started to be the norm, and a lot of people from the Magreb were coming to France to seek asylum. They came in their 1000s and French people got annoyed, this caused problems in the suburbs, and La Haine is really a look at how it is in the 90s, and how it's not really changed since then.Hubert, Said and Vinz are young people who live in a quite volatile area. Hubert gets his anger out on punchbags and has settled down from a rather deliquant youth. Said is a dealer, and makes his life from doing petty crime and dealing dope. Vinz is a bit of a yob - he gets annoyed at everyone quickly, and lives mainly on dope 24/7. He fancies himself as Robert De Nero in Taxi Driver. The three of them hang around deserted landscapes passing time by, telling stupid jokes and mainly smoking hash.The riots are in full swing, and the local police station is being looted by young Arabs. The riots are quite stong, and Vinz, Hubert and Said's friend, Abdel, has been badly injured and put in a coma by a cop who was in duty. Of course, Vinz is frantic, and wants revenge. He wants to kill a cop if Abdel doesn't make it. Hubert isn't happy with this, and makes a grand speech that killing one cop won't kill them all, and hate leads to more hate. Said doesn't reslly care, he just wants his cash from Darty and Asterix. He really hangs around with Vinz and Hubert for the sake of it.This is a time based tale, where the clock appears between scenes to show that there's not much time before the apocalypse happens. The film is black and white to show the black and white tale, to show that this is whats happening, and is used very well. Some people may be bothered by this, but I think it's excellent.The end is very dramatic, and we never know what happened. This is one nice thing about French cinema, they keep you wondering what happened, and let you make your own conclusion about who did what. Kassovitz made an excellent movie about the ghetto, and Saïd Taghmaoui, Hubert Koundé and Vincent Cassel all played excellent roles. The whole movie was well edited and filmed. One of the best films of the 90s, taking home no more than 3 Ceasar awards from Cannes 1996, including best editing and best film. All the fuss actually got Alan Jupet - the French Prime Minister at the time to show a compulsary showing to his cabinet, which is something. The music was also excellent, DJ Cut Killer being the best bit. Other bits of funk and soul were nice touches too.This film is well worth buying - if you don't own this, you're missing out on one of French cinema's best moments. If there were more stars I would give it 6/5

I am currently studying this film as part of my A level French and I have to say that I have now fallen in love with French cinema!'La Haine' tackles themes of delinquency and social class and is astoundingly executed by director Mathieu Kassovitz, it is, in it's own right, a very metaphorical and profound film and really makes you think about the truth behind violence and the police, not just in suburban Paris, but everywhere. Every moment in this film is so cleverly thought out and the characters are both relatable and intoxicating to a modern day audience. Even if you're not a fan of foreign/French cinema, you will finish watching this film with your jaws left wide open. Vincent Cassel, who plays one of the three main characters, delivers a beyond incredible performance as a youth, caught up with crime and gang culture and aspiring to be the top of his game when it comes to violence. The fact that the narrative takes place in less than 24 hours and is shot in black and white adds a touch or naturalism whilst building the film to a brilliantly tense crescendo before cutting to black.Brilliantly executed and bold, this film will stay with you long after you have seen it

I was drawn to this movie because of the black and white cinematography, for a good while into the movie I thought it was just a meaningless appeal to violence, but as the plot begins to develop, there is a real meaning to the story, I was left shocked in a meaningful way, this movie cuts deep, because while it is fictional still many troubled people turn to violence; so far so good, so far so good, so far so good.