Review of La Haine (1995) by John P — 10 Jun 2012

A powerfully gripping movie from France that follows three friends around their daily activities in the suburbs. The backdrop takes place after a riot broke out and a friend is hospitalized after being brutally beaten by the police. At the same time, an officer unfortunately looses his gun during the act, and our main man Vincent Cassel just happens to come across it and keeps it stored away. With the power of this object Cassell finally feels empowered, or in other words, "man enough," to fight back and take an eye for an eye. One hospitalized friend means one dead cop, right?

This one of the many questions that confronts the viewer throughout the course of the film, and what a film it is! Everything about it is absolutely fantastic. The trio of actors that make up our small crew (Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde and Said Taghmaoui) do a phenomenal job: a hot-headed man hellbent on revenge, a sullen man who just wants to get out and the youngin' of the group who just wants to be respected (and to be perceived that he's on top). The photography is astounding! Every shot was absolutely beautiful, and the scene of DJ Cut Killer scratching away as the camera pulls out the window, swoops down to the playground and then ascends back up over the tenement buildings was stunning. This film is abound with beauty.

The film keeps referencing a saying about a man leaping off a building, and when he passes each floor he says to himself, "So far so good." As Hubert tells us, "How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land." This saying is shown very well when our boys are on top of the building in the city and Cassel tries to turn off the lights to the Eiffel Tower. He fails, and they move on, only to have the lights go off just as they walk away. It goes to show that if you keep trying then perhaps you can change something.

More questions arise like this: the story the old man in the bathroom presents, the gun pointed at the skinhead, the one cop who just sulks in his chair with his head down while Hubert and Said are being beaten. All the way to the end of the film with the final bang raises questions, and thankfully the film remains ambiguous. After the final gunshot the screen goes black and the credits roll. I can't think of a better way for the message to sink in.