Review of La Haine (1995) by Casey R — 11 Jun 2008
Although my knowledge of contemporary French race relations is limited to BBC coverage of the 2005 riots in Clichy-sous-Bois, I think it is safe to say the La Haine remains both le film cle and le mot cle for post-colonial race and class relations in Europe.
The range of emotion captured by the the film's three banlieusards is astonishing, but most striking is the volatile anger of Vincent Cassel's character: a simmering, unfathomable anger that is only vaguely directed at the system.
His frustration explodes at every moment except when he most wants it to, and it explodes on him just after he's made his tentative peace. The set-up of the second half can read like a strange joke ("A Jew, an African, and an Arab are stuck in Paris for the night.
.."), and for a moment it seems that we could shrug off it off as a cruel joke. But it's just a tragedy, an unambiguous tragedy even if we don't know who shot whom.
This review of La Haine (1995) was written by Casey R on 11 Jun 2008.
La Haine has generally received very positive reviews.
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