La Haine (1995), was written and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and follows a day in the life of three friends living on an estate in France in the aftermath of a riot. It stars Said Taghmaoui as Said, Vincent Cassel as Vinz, and Hubert Kounde as Hubert.
Story:
My favourite part of the story of this film was the recurrence of 'it's not how you fall, it's how you land', because it showed that the society the characters live in is constantly up in the air due to the violence happening all around them. It also helped create a circular narrative which allowed this to mean something personal to the main characters of the film, which helped show how the society they live in directly affects them, which I found made what could have been quite a violent storyline into something better and more personal as it made the audience think about the consequences of violence. The scariest thing is that the message the film gives is relevant to society today so could still be learned from.
By having the three characters journey across Paris, the film was also able to show how widespread the racism was, therefore giving more reason behind the previous day's riot.
I also liked the way the characters were developed and how each one had layers, especially Hubert. This is because although at first he seems to be only a gangster who hangs around with the other somewhat troubled youths on the estate, a scene where he goes home reveals his desire to get out of the estate and away from the trouble. I thought this made Hubert more relatable as it showed there were emotions behind his tough exterior and dreams of something more than what he has now.
Directing:
The directing by Mathieu Kassovitz was the most interesting aspect of the film because it was so innovative. An example of this is the shot of the top of the apartment buildings on the estate, as even though now it could be filmed using a drone, when the film was made it was only possible to use a small camera which had to be attached to a remote controlled helicopter. However, this helped with the tone of the film, as the shot was slightly shakier than it would have been if a drone had been used, which I found helped highlight the unstable nature of the society below.
There was also a sequence where the character Vinz stands in front of his mirror as there were perspectives from both the front of him and the bathroom behind him, plus his reflection in the mirror. This was achieved by using a body double, and recreating the reflected bathroom around the double. I thought this was clever as it showed that the director was aware of even the tiniest details in the sequence, and could therefore accurately recreate them so that the audience didn't notice but instead wondered how the shots were created.
I also liked how there were many tracking shots and close-ups of the characters that clearly showed they were the focus of the story as I found as a viewer it made it feel like we were on the journey with the characters and were learning to understand their world through their point of view. For example, when the main three characters attempt to steal a car but are caught by the police they run down the road away from the police car and the framing is tight and tracks them. This helped add comedy to this scene but also helped to establish the police as the antagonist even though most viewers would typically see them as good and as a type of protagonist in every day life.
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