Review of La Haine (1995) by Lorenzo V — 19 Aug 2009

"Three Young Friends... One Last Chance.".

Abdel, a local hoodlum, is hospitalized after a riot, where a policeman lost his gun. His friend Vinz finds it and claims he will kill a cop if Abdel dies.

REVIEW.

I have never seen anything like this one. The first image strikes us right in the face: the world, lost in a emptiness of black, is covered by the blowing slo-mo flames of a cocktail molotov. The story may look simple. But that is the exact way it wants to be. Here we have a journey into the places hate lives. Here we journey through the deep entrails of hate, which grows, and cannot be stopped. When you think everything is right, everything is wrong. When you find peace, war seeks us. Here we are close-up to the ghettos we want to avoid, at the same time people who live there are always thinking of revenge, even if they are subject of social and physical abuse. Technically the movie is genius, beautifully shot in black and white, with a great music selection and three great leads, which look and think like they were really from the streets. Some scenes stroke me particularly (the opening shot, the camera wandering over the rooftops as the music spreads, the final scene) and will still strike me in the future. This movie has also a great amount of juice to be drunk, and requires multiple viewings to be seen properly. A work of genius, which reflects the quality of young values when they are given the proper treatment.