Spoilers for La Haine (1995). Trigger warnings for discussions of racism and police brutality
The social and political tensions of France are on full display in Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine, following three teenagers as they traverse Paris in the 24 hours following a riot against the police force. Inspired by two cases of police violence against minorities in the ten years before its release – notably the deaths of Makomé M'Bowolé in 1993 and of Malik Oussekine in 1986 – Kassovitz portrays a divided Paris on the verge of chaos.
Yet he does this not through depictions of violence, which are present though only in sudden bursts, but through dialogue and the relationships between the characters. Vinz (Vincent Cassel) is a young Jewish man, who idolises the rioters and fantasises about killing a policeman as revenge for the beating of a young man in custody. He’s friends with Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui), a North African Muslim, and Hubert (Hubert Koundé), an Afro-French boxer and drug dealer.
The culture of each protagonist puts them in the sights of skinheads and police alike throughout the day, with each of them experiencing abuse at different points. But while Kassovitz is clearly on the side of his three leads throughout, the film makes it clear that he is against violence in general. The description of the riot that occurred the night implies that as many people were there to loot and destroy property as were there to protest police violence.
Kassovitz speaks through Hubert for a lot of the film. Despite his anger towards the police and the institutionalised racism he sees every day, Hubert is shown to pick non-violent paths when he can as he tries to escape his poverty-stricken neighbourhood. He is critical of Vinz, who not only talks openly and loudly about killing a policeman, but who also carries a gun that he found during the riots.
The character of Hubert is tragic because through him Kassovitz shows that minorities in France are often forced to react violently to their circumstances, which ultimately holds them back further. After all, these actions are used against them to perpetuate stereotypes. At the halfway point of the film, Saïd and Hubert are arrested by a pair of plainclothes officers who physically and verbally abuse them until late in the night.
Vinz escapes the police and only meets up with them after they are released, despite having caused the confrontation in the first place. Hubert, who has tried to talk Vinz down from the start of the film, is the one tortured and humiliated in Vinz's place – further escalating his hatred of the police.
After the trio are reunited, they encounter a group of skinheads (including Kassovitz himself) and are attacked. Vinz intervenes by threatening them with the gun. They drag one of the skinheads off the street and Vinz looks set to execute him, but he chokes. This confrontation is partly caused by Saïd, who insulted the skinheads from a rooftop a few minutes earlier. Once again, Hubert pays a physical price for someone else actions – though admittedly, the nature of a skinhead gang means that Hubert’s race would have put him in their sights regardless.
This scene adds another, predictable, wrinkle to the character of Vinz. Throughout he has portrayed himself as a gangster; emulating Travis Bickle in the mirror and talking loudly about wanting to shoot a police officer. When the time comes to pull the trigger against the racist skinhead, a murder which has the full support of Saïd and Hubert, he is unable to do it. He hands over the gun to Hubert and is forlorn following this.
Throughout the film, Kassovitz has developed these plot points. Hubert, who has resisted violence throughout, demonised the rioters for destroying his gym without provocation, and criticised Vinz for carrying a gun, now finds himself walking around Paris with the same gun on his person.
It builds to the climactic scene, where Vinz and Saïd are accosted by police once again. Vinz is restrained against the police car with a gun pressed against his head, which discharges in the struggle, killing him. Interestingly, accidental discharge was the defence put forward by Inspector Pascal Compain after the death of Makomé M'Bowolé, who claimed he was trying to intimidate the young man.
Hubert witnesses the killing of Vinz and walks up to the policeman, pulling out the gun and pointing it at him. The camera slowly zooms in on Saïd, who can only watch as the two cock their guns and get ready to fire.
We hear a shot and the film fades to black, our focus still on Saïd’s shocked face.
We don’t see who pulled the trigger first because it doesn’t matter. Hubert is either dead or has killed a policeman. Either way, his life is over. He will not get out of the neighbourhood; he won’t rebuild his gym, or help his mother earn money. Over 24 hours, he has been transformed from an objector to the violence to an active perpetrator by the actions of vicious policemen, racist gangs and the ever-present tension in Paris.
La Haine translates to ‘the hate’, and it’s directionless, unjustified hate that drives the story, causing a constant cycle of violence and response.
Writer/director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Saïd Taghmaoui, Hubert Koundé