La Haine is a bold and fierce film about social and racial injustice in nineties Paris. Released in 1995, it was celebrated on release and has rightfully gone on to be lauded as a modern classic.
The film follows three friends from different ethnic backgrounds – Jewish, African, and Arabic – in a Parisian banlieue, the day after a period of violent rioting. One of their close friends has been hospitalised due to police brutality in the riots, and one of the friends, the aggressive Vinz, vows revenge if he dies.
Director Mathieu Kassovitz takes us on a tour of the Parisian suburbs in stark black-and-white cinematography. Low-key rooftop gatherings, underground liaisons and life in cramped flats are shown, often to an edgy, hard-hitting hip hop soundtrack. Our three protagonists eventually take a train to the inner city, their mission to recover a debt owed from a cocaine user in a high-end apartment.
Its in scenarios like these that La Haine shines; there’s personality in spades in the interactions of the main characters. Whilst the film is overall one of tension and drama, there’s humour peppered throughout. One memorable scene involves an interaction with an elderly man in a public bathroom who recounts a bizarre and unprompted comedic story out of left-field.
La Haine endures due to its socio-political importance in relation to police brutality, one made even more relevant in the Black Lives Matter era. Perhaps more importantly, however, it is simply a well-made and engaging film. Its narrative is loose and playful, yet locks the viewer in like a vice due to its watertight photography, editing and direction.
1995, Mathieu Kassovitz
8.0
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