hate

"la haine"
dir. matieu kassovitz
1995

the power of observation is something cinema captures so acutely, maybe more so on a visceral level than most artistic mediums. the fetus of observation on film can be found in the early films of the lumiere brothers that depicted laborers leaving factories or citizens departing train stations. viewing the world as it is, objectively, is almost impossible in film because wherever the eye of the camera is placed, the eye of the author behind the camera becomes our godly point of reference. in my mind, this is the beauty of cinema. subjective reality can be used as a tableau for the objective world that urges to be interpreted and regurgitated to audiences. the stunning world that matieu kassovitz creates in "la haine" is a stinging and damning socio-political observation on contemporary france as well as a very defined move into a new kind of french cinema.

the film follows three thugs as they journey throughout a day of violence, revelations, and the general malaise of being a product of an urban and forgotten environment. the gorgeous black and white cinematography serves as a stroke of inspired genius because as much as the characters want their lives to be defined in clear black and white terms like everyone else (or so they assume), things are much murkier and complex than what they perceive. violence and political unrest are part of their everyday lives, but that does not mean they understand it and progress from it. the look of the film also serves as a classic way of observing a culture that has evolved into a more ethnically diverse culture. north africans, black africans, middle eastern people have grown in large populations all over europe, especially in france. this neo-melting pot is sold a dream of prosperity and identification, much like the mexican immigrants in our country today, but when they arrive they are left to their own devices and therefore cannot achieve the same comfort and possibilities that another group could and benefits from consistently.

the local housing projects is the new hot bed of multi-cultural integration where american popular culture has had a significant influence. rap videos, post-70s american auteur cinema, and black street culture have infiltrated not only in the community but the aesthetic of the film as well. i love the scene above for its incorporation of everything modern about observation on film. the marriage of sound and image only add to this when the deejay, clad in his cyprus hill t-shirt, begins spinning french hip-hop but mixed in with an edith piaf song. this music is the pulse of the community. the traditions have not been forgotten, but instead co-opted for a new generation. the camera moves over the community and observes them in an angelic-like presence. this isn't snobbery in terms of looking down at them, but putting the viewer in their environment and assuring them that beauty exists in an other wise ugly setting.

"la haine" owes much of its visual and aural punch to american cinema and music. much like the hollywood influence on the new wave directors of the late 1950s and 1960s, the hollywood directors of the 1970s and 1980s serve as inspiration for a new generation of french cinema. spike lee's wide angle lens close-ups and scorsese's whip pans and tracking shots bear their mark all over this film. hip-hop videos of the early 1990s are also wonderful resource for kassovitz and he knows how to weave in their identifiable flair. those videos showed the playgrounds and backyards of youths in compton, los angeles and the high rise projects of new york with rich and vivid detail. they weren't war zones collapsing a culture, but rather a commmunity teeming with life and vitality where mothers braided hair on the doorstep or jumpy convertibles would leap through the neighborhood to a captivated audience. that same cultural reflection and non-judgmental look exists in "la haine".

there's another fantastic scene when the thugs find themselves in paris but have dispersed momentarily, due to a petty argument, and group ringleader vinz (a steaming vincent cassel) joyrides in a bmw with a new pack of ne'er-do-wells. the camera rests on the front end of the car with a fish eye lens exaggerating the size and scope of the car. the car is static but the background looks curved and bent. this reminds me of a technique music video maestro hype williams employed several times in his work in the mid to late 1990s and spike lee .

"la haine" succeeds in observing a subculture that is universal in its depiction of disenfranchised denizens and their eternal search, but never obtaining, the lofty fantasy they were promised as a means of a civil right and personal inspiration.