Customer Reviews

La Haine (The Criterion Collection)

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I loved this movie the first time I saw it and have seen it at least a dozen times since. It is a powerful story told as seen through the eyes and lives of three friends who are living in Paris during the riots. The direction of this movie is delicious and so is the character development. A beautiful job is done in introducing each of the three main characters and in giving a bit of insight in to each of their personal lives. One is a tough guy with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove, another a good guy who has no choice but to sell hash to support his family, and the third a kid who doesn't seem to care about much other than getting laid and trying to impress his friends. What really caught me about this movie was how realistic I found it. It was funny and hard and real and disturbing and fabulous. I highly recommemend this film to anyone who enjoys quality and substance. It has an AWESOME soundtrack too!!!

i have waited forever to buy this movie states-side. the only copy i've ever owned was on vhs and i lost it a long time ago. its been so long since the movie first came out; i remember that it was available as a zone 2 dvd in a european magazine or newspaper (it is common in some countries for them to distribute dvds this way).

anyway. im curious to see what criterion adds to this movie. this movie is a definitive "hip-hop" classic. and not many people know about it here. truly a gem.

I spent $40 a few years ago to buy the Zone 2 version, which I didn't know was unplayable in my DVD player. I will gladly, but somewhat grudgingly, spend another $30 to get a copy of this movie that I can watch without limitations. Truly an eye-opening movie; France's "Boyz in tha Hood," only better in pretty much every way.

Hate is a strong film about lost youth where the apparent message strikes the audience in the forehead like a nail-pegged baseball bat. The story is set the day after nightly riots in a Parisian ghetto after the young Arabian man, Abdel, was brutally assaulted by the police. Vinz, Said, and Hubert are three friends of Abdel that are set adrift in anger toward the police as they try to find reason and justice within their social environment. The impulsive Vinz, performed by Vincent Cassel, acts tough as he knows that he has a gun that he found after a police officer had accidentally lost it in the riots. Said is the follower who glorifies the violence and strives to be respected as he has a twisted view of what respect is. Hubert dreams of getting out of the ghetto as he does not glorify the violence within the ghetto while his two friends do. The audience follows these three characters throughout a full day as they are sitting around, getting into trouble, and learning through their errors. Kassovitz creates an authentic and explosive atmosphere which becomes the grounds for an exhaustive examination of the socioeconomic milieu of young adults in a poor Parisian ghetto. In the end, Kassovitz succeeds in developing an excellent persuasive and disturbing cinematic experience.

Quite recently in East Germany eight Indian tourists were beaten up by some fifty neo-nazis. Being an American from a small, relatively poor town, I have also witnessed some heated racial tensions. While not to the extreme as the recent violence in East Germany, I have heard a number of words from people, even some I consider myself close to, that were quite shocking because they had no real basis besides the fact that the people were of a different skin color and religion. Mathieu Kassovitz's, who is unfortunately probably best known in America for his bomb Gothika, film La Haine, brings to the fore racial tensions in France especially in poor communities.

La Haine centers on three friends: Vinz, a Jew, Hubert, a black guy, and Saïd, an Arab. This odd trio spend there days living within the confines of a ghetto where violence rules the streets. While far from being innocent themselves, the three young men mainly engage in altercations involving the police, who harass them primarily because of their cultural stock and neo-nazis. While many might frown with the words police and neo-nazis being uttered in the same sentence, within the film the tactics used by both groups differ little. Anyway, after a recent altercation, a friend of the trio named Abdel was seriously injured by the police. Vinz, Vincent Cassel, the most hot-headed of the group, is determined to get even with the police if their friend dies. Normally his words would be viewed as nothing more as hot air, but he happens to have a gun dropped by a cop...

La Haine is a very strong black and white film that will often make the viewer uncomfortable while watching it especially if the viewer has some qualms with "authority figures" and the abuse of power. While I was watching the film I could literally feel myself become angry while Hubert and Saïd were being violently mistreated by un-uniformed police. Besides its representation of the abuse of power upon minorities, the film also gives a graphic display of the hopelessness felt by a number of individuals stuck in poor communities. With little chance of finding a good job or education, many of these individuals do turn to crime and to violent demonstration. However, faced with continued oppression by racist, rightist conservatives, sometimes the only choice is to go to extremes in order to be heard.

This is one of those movies that sticks in your head. I rented it on VHS years ago when it first came out. I heard about it through its attachment to Jodi Foster's production company Egg Pictures. They help it to get released in the States. From the opening voiceover hurtling towards the ground, to the brutal ending, it will move you. The performances are terrific, and the screenplay does a fabulous job of ratcheting up the tension as the movie progresses.

Whatever your feelings and knowledge about the issues surrounding immigration, this movie shows you how from the immigrants' perspective, the tensions of their new society can clash with those of their original ethnic society into a powderkeg waiting to blow. The three main characters are young and in over their heads. Their feelings of helplessness combine with the fortuitous discovery of a policeman's lost gun to lead them where their not sure they really want to go. It's an intersting and powerful dilemma to watch.

Highly recommended!

La Haine is a film that flew beneath my radar for some time. Released to critical acclaim in 1995, it won numerous awards, and earned both the support and criticism of members of the French Government at the time. It explores a day in the life of three hood kids growing up in a public housing project outside of Paris. The film effectively and at times disturbingly shows the tension between the police and Paris' minority communities. Although it is 12 years old, its exploration of police brutality and racial/class disparity is relevant and applicable to modern American society and probably more generally any society in which there is an unequal distribution of wealth.

La Haine is shot in gritty black and white, and is subtitled. Although it is a deep film, it is still an entertaining and absorbing crime/hood drama. It is raw in its depiction of kids growing up on the fringes of society. It is not pretentious or cliche like 'Crash', a film with a similar theme. This is both an artistic and entertaining film, which retains its power after multiple viewings. La Haine deserves to be watched.

i saw this movie on sundance late at night years ago and was blown away. i liked it so much i bought the european dvd and a compatible dvd player just to watch it.
i have followed mathieu kassovitz's career after this movie and also recommend his "cafe au lait." he also diretced the american "gothika"

"Hate" is a social commentary on the Parisian youths who waste away in the suburbs. Kassovitz does a superb job of directing the three young men who are at the heart of this movie. The trio showcases three very different characters who are tied together by the simple fact that they are from the same neighborhood. They each have their own take and life, and I found it interesting how each character played off each other. One of the youths (Hubert), in particular, is tragic not because he is angry at the world but because he has so much potential to be more than what his surroundings force him to be. Kassovitz handles the subject matter wonderfully and with deft confidence.

Even though the topic of the film is arguably the source of most interest, the visual sense of the film is spectacular as well. Using black and white, Kassovitz suffuses the film with a documentary sensibility that is both brutally honest and oddly intimate. He holds no punches, and he is unafraid to drag the audience into a journey through the Parisian "slums" and through the city.

It's a wonderfuly film -- something you have to watch to understand. Its unflinching look at this dark world is what makes it so powerful and emotional.

I sure didn't ever know Paris was like this. Even w/subtitles, its an easy movie to watch, the people are very real and convincing and good, theres an amazing scene after the white guy gets in a fight w/ his friends where he goes to watch a kickboxing match and what happens in the ring is much of a reflection of what's happening in the story, but its subtle so watch that scene again if you have the tape. The music is good too, like when the dj kid just starts up at one time. Very similar to Juice, I think it borrowed some themes and structures from there, but definitely not just a ripoff of any sort, its a great movie in its own right.