La Haine

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Distinguish Template:For-multi Template:Expand French Template:Infobox film Template:Lang (Template:IPA, Template:Literal translation; released in the United States as Hate) is a 1995 French social thriller film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Starring Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé and Saïd Taghmaoui, the film chronicles a day and night in the lives of three friends from a poor immigrant neighbourhood in the suburbs of Paris. The title derives from a line spoken by one of them, Hubert: "Template:Lang", "hatred breeds hatred". Kassovitz was awarded the Best Director prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

The film opens with a montage of news footage depicting urban riots in a Template:Lang in the commune of Template:Lang near Paris. The riots are the result of a local man named Template:Lang being gravely injured in police custody and is hospitalized in intensive care. The riots escalate, leading to a siege of the local police station and the loss of a police officer's revolver.

The film follows the lives of three friends of Abdel, all young men from immigrant families, over approximately the next twenty consecutive hours.

Vinz, a young Jewish man with an aggressive temperament, seeks revenge for Abdel's injuries. He harbors a deep hatred for all police officers and secretly emulates Travis Bickle, from the American film Taxi Driver, posturing in front of his bathroom mirror. Template:Lang, a Christian Afro-French boxer and small-time drug dealer, aspires to escape the Template:Lang and create a better life for himself. But, his boxing gymnasium was destroyed in the riots. Template:Lang, a young North African Muslim, acts as a mediator between Vinz and Template:Lang, who constantly argue.

The three friends lead a directionless daily routine and frequently find themselves under police surveillance. At a rooftop party that is broken up by the police, Vinz insults a plainclothes officer. After the trio leaves, Vinz reveals that he has discovered the .44 Magnum revolver lost during the riot. He plans to use it to kill a police officer if Abdel dies. While Template:Lang disapproves, Vinz secretly takes the gun with him. They try to visit Abdel in the hospital but are stopped by the police. Template:Lang is arrested after they aggressively refuse to leave, but he is later released with the assistance of a police officer who knows his brother.

Vinz and Template:Lang disagree about their perspectives on policing and violence, and they temporarily part ways. Template:Lang accompanies Vinz, while Template:Lang briefly returns home.

They reunite at another gathering in the Template:Lang. It descends into chaos when Abdel's brother attempts to murder a police officer as an act of revenge. In a confrontation with the police, the three narrowly escape after Vinz almost shoots a riot officer. They board a train to Paris. Their interactions with both friendly and hostile Parisians cause several encounters to escalate into risky confrontations.

In a public restroom, they encounter a Polish survivor of the gulag. He tells them a story about a man who froze to death after refusing to relieve himself in public near the train and failing to re-board it in time. The trio don't understand what the story means.

Later, they visit Template:Lang, a frequent cocaine user who owes money to Template:Lang. Tempers rise as Template:Lang appears to force Vinz to play Russian roulette, but the gun was secretly unloaded. Later they encounter plainclothes police officers who arrest Template:Lang and Template:Lang, while Vinz manages to escape. The police officers verbally and physically abuse the duo before jailing them until late at night. The three miss the last train home from Saint-Lazare station and spend the night on the streets.

After failing to hotwire a car and being kicked out of an art gallery, the trio make their way to a rooftop, where they insult some passing skinheads. They take shelter in a shopping mall, where they hear a news broadcast reporting Abdel's death. Later, Vinz disappears. Hubert and Template:Lang find him pointing a finger gun at a police officer; the two angrily abandon Vinz at the mall.

But, Hubert and Template:Lang later encounter the group of skinheads they had harassed, who now mercilessly attack them. Vinz intervenes and holds one of the skinheads at gunpoint. Although Hubert pushes for Vinz to kill the guy, he hesitates and finally lets the skinhead go.

In the early morning, the trio returns home. Vinz gives the gun to Template:Lang. Vinz and Template:Lang encounter the officer whom Vinz had insulted at the rooftop party. The officer seizes Vinz, threatening him with a loaded gun against his head. Template:Lang rushes to their aid, but the officer accidentally discharges his gun, killing Vinz.

Hubert and the officer enter a Mexican standoff, with each pointing a gun at the other. During the standoff, Hubert, in voiceover, tells a story with the image of a man falling from a building, assuring himself that everything is fine, as a metaphor for society's decline. Template:Lang closes his eyes, and a gunshot is heard. The outcome is not revealed.

Cast

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Production

Kassovitz has said that the idea came to him when a young Zairian, Template:Lang, was shot in 1993. He was killed at point blank range while in police custody and handcuffed to a radiator. The officer was reported to have been angered by Template:Lang's words, and had been threatening him when the gun went off accidentally.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Kassovitz began writing the script on 6 April 1993, the day Template:Lang was shot. He was also inspired by the case of Template:Lang, a 22-year-old student protester who died after being badly beaten by the riot police after a mass demonstration in 1986, in which he did not take part.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Lang's death is also referred to in the opening montage of the film.<ref name="criterion.com">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Lang included his own experiences; he took part in riots, he acts in a number of scenes and includes his father Peter in another.

The majority of the filming was done in the Parisian suburb of Template:Lang. Unstaged footage was used for this film, taken from 1986 to 1995; riots still took place during the time of filming. To actually film in the Template:Lang, Kassovitz, the production team and the actors, moved there for three months prior to the shooting as well as during actual filming.<ref name="dvdbeaver1">Template:Cite web</ref> Due to the film's controversial subject matter, seven or eight local French councils refused to allow the film crew to film on their territory. Kassovitz was forced to temporarily rename the script Template:Lang.<ref name="independent.co.uk">Template:Cite news</ref> Some of the actors were not professionals and the film includes many situations that were based on real events.<ref name="dvdbeaver1"/>

The music of the film was handled by French hardcore rap group Assassin, whose song "Template:Lang" (translated as "Fuck the Police") was featured in one of the scenes of the filmTemplate:Citation needed. One of the members of Assassin, Mathias "Rockin' Squat" Crochon, is the brother of Template:Lang, who plays Vinz in the film.<ref name="criterion.com"/>

The film is dedicated to those who died while it was being made.

Reception

Upon its release, La Haine received widespread critical acclaim and was well received in France and abroad. The film was shown at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival where it enjoyed a standing ovation. Kassovitz was awarded the Best Director prize at the festival.<ref name="criterion.com"/> The film opened at number one at the French box office with a gross of 12.5 million Francs for the week.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> It was number one for four consecutive weeks. The film had a total of 2,042,070 admissions in France where it was the 14th highest-grossing film of the year.<ref name="JPBox Office" />

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on 73 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Hard-hitting and breathtakingly effective, La Haine takes an uncompromising look at long-festering social and economic divisions affecting 1990s Paris."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "raw, vital and captivating".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Wendy Ide of The Times stated that La Haine is "[o]ne of the most blisteringly effective pieces of urban cinema ever made."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After the film was well received upon its release in France, Alain Juppé, who was Prime Minister of France at the time, commissioned a special screening of the film for the cabinet, which ministers were required to attend. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said that, despite resenting some of the anti-police themes present in the film, Juppé found La Haine to be "a beautiful work of cinematographic art that can make us more aware of certain realities."<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>

It was ranked number 32 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Accolades

Home media

La Haine was available on VHS in the United States, but was not released on DVD until The Criterion Collection released a two-disc edition in 2007. Both HD DVD and Blu-ray versions have also been released in Europe, and Criterion released the film on Blu-ray in May 2012. The release includes audio commentary by Kassovitz, an introduction by actress Jodie Foster, "Ten Years of La Haine", a documentary that brings together cast and crew a decade after the film's landmark release, a featurette on the film's banlieue setting, production footage, and deleted and extended scenes, each with an afterword by Kassovitz.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

La Haine was also released in 4K Blu-ray format by Criterion on 2Template:NbspApril 2024.

See also

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References

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Template:Mathieu Kassovitz Template:César Award for Best Film Template:European Film Award for Discovery of the Year Template:Lumière Award for Best Film

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