Review of La Haine (1995) by Grant P — 17 Aug 2008

It seems that my recent cinematic explorations have included subjects of poverty. With La haine, the focus is on cultural deterioration and violence. Where Ratcatcher and Tideland have singular character focus, La haine is more like Gummo (although better, of course).

Director Kassovitz seems to use techniques of his American film idols like Martin Scorsese (blatantly obvious by the Taxi Driver reference) and Spike Lee (camera movement).

The story is not particularly strong, but it does not need to be, because the characters are so carefully defined. But this definition leads to the realization that La haine is not the most pleasant film to watch. It is so overbearing and aggressive that eventually all the characters' sentences become a blur of taunting slurs. This behavior is the message of the film, however: these marginalized boys are facing an uncertain future, so they simply wander and destroy one place after another. Hate breeds hate.

Additionally, the clock representing time of day is completely unnecessary. If you want to argue its significance in the final moments, I'll give that to you, but to me it just seems like a placeholder for someone who can't transition scenes well.

(Sorry for making this film sound a lot worse than it is, haha).