La Haine (Hate)

By Mathieu Kassovitz

A far cry from the beautiful and romantic portrayal of Paris in most films, this one takes you into the heart of the ‘Cités’. The Cités are housing schemes for the poor on the outskirts of Paris. Often in bad conditions, the Cités are soft-targets for the police as we have seen in the Paris riots of 2005.
This movie tracks one day in the life of three friends from a Cité: Vinz, Said and Hubert. Their friend is seriously beaten up by the police during a riot. Vinz takes an oath to kill off a cop if the friend dies. Armed with a gun that a cop lost during the riot, they roam around Paris aimlessly to kill time. They are thrown out of a sophisticated art gallery, refused entry in a nightclub, are beaten up by the police and have a violent fight with some skinheads. Disillusioned and angry at the world that refuses to accept them, they journey back to their Cité (as if rejecting the hateful world that rejected them). The film ends violently and on a pessimistic note.
The film, shot in black and white, succeeds in capturing the life in the Cités complete with hip-hop and ‘verlan’ (a type of slang). Interspersed with humour, the film doesn’t become too dark and depressive. Though the undercurrent of hatred and anger cannot be missed…
A must-watch!!!