Product Details

• Actors: Vincent Cassel, Saïd Taghmaoui, Hubert Koundé, Benoît Magimel, Francois Toumarkine
• Directors: Mathieu Kassovitz
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Criterion
• DVD Release Date: April 17, 2007
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000MTEFP0
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,257 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "La Haine (Criterion Collection)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's easy to see why La Haine had such an explosive effect when it was released in France; its potent portrait of racial discord and life in the housing projects outside of Paris is at odds with France's egalitarian vision of itself. This impact wouldn't have lasted, however, were the movie purely a political statement; fortunately, it's a riveting journey that follows three unemployed young men (Said Taghmaoui, Hubert Kounde, and Vincent Cassel) as they wander and try to decide what to do with the gun that one of them has found. This simple scenario results in a remarkably complex examination of race, class, violence, and the abuse of power in modern society, yet never feels preachy or forced. Hugely influenced by American directors like Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee (particularly Do the Right Thing), La Haine riffs through different styles and techniques, yet the movie feels organic and whole, driven by a genuinely passionate point of view. Dynamic, reckless, sometimes obvious and sometimes subtle (and sometimes both; in one scene, Hubert and Said have been picked up by the police, who torture them for kicks. But watching the abuse is a rookie cop whose face quietly ripples with dismay, helplessness, and resignation), this is a must-see.

As is usual with Criterion releases, the extra features are excellent, including an in-depth but accessible documentary about the housing projects and riots that inspired the film, retrospective material on the making of the movie, behind-the-scenes horseplay, intriguing deleted scenes (with brief but revealing explanations about the deletion from director Mathieu Kassovitz), and a wonderfully articulate introduction by Jodie Foster, who championed the film upon its release and distributed it through her production company. The audio commentary by Kassovitz, who's fluent in English, is circumspect and thoughtful, with flashes of sardonic humor. Kassovitz's directing career has turned decidedly less political (his more recent movies include The Crimson Rivers and Gothika), but his perspective on La Haine and its inspirations remains sharp and lucid. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

When he was just twenty-nine years old, Mathieu Kassovitz took the international film world by storm with La haine (Hate), a gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically in the low-income banlieue districts on Paris’s outskirts. Aimlessly whiling away their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz, Hubert, and Saïd—a Jew, an African, and an Arab—give human faces to France’s immigrant populations, their bristling resentments at their social marginalization slowly simmering until they reach a climactic boiling point. A work of tough beauty, La haine is a landmark of contemporary French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country’s ongoing identity crisis.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotizing from beginning to end., June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hate [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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!!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Missing Gun, August 30, 2007

By	Daitokuji31 (Black Glass) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Been waiting a long time..., February 8, 2007

By	Bella Laurent "Black Fury" (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

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!