La Haine (1995)

24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot.

Director:

Mathieu Kassovitz

Writer:

Mathieu Kassovitz

Stars:

Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui

Top Rated Movies #227 | 8 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent Cassel	...	Vinz
Hubert Koundé	...	Hubert
Saïd Taghmaoui	...	Saïd
Abdel Ahmed Ghili	...	Abdel
Solo	...	Santo
Joseph Momo	...	Ordinary Guy
Héloïse Rauth	...	Sarah
Rywka Wajsbrot	...	Vinz's Grandmother
Olga Abrego	...	Vinz's Aunt
Laurent Labasse	...	Cook
Choukri Gabteni	...	Saïd's Brother
Nabil Ben Mhamed	...	Boy Blague
Benoît Magimel	...	Benoît
Médard Niang	...	Médard
Arash Mansour	...	Arash

Storyline

The film follows three young men and their time spent in the French suburban "ghetto," over a span of twenty-four hours. Vinz, a Jew, Saïd, an Arab, and Hubert, a black boxer, have grown up in these French suburbs where high levels of diversity coupled with the racist and oppressive police force have raised tensions to a critical breaking point. During the riots that took place a night before, a police officer lost his handgun in the ensuing madness, only to leave it for Vinz to find. Now, with a newfound means to gain the respect he deserves, Vinz vows to kill a cop if his friend Abdel dies in the hospital, due the beating he received while in police custody.

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Plot Keywords:

police | arab | gun | ghetto | friend | 

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Taglines:

So far, so good

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

23 February 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

La Haine

Filming Locations:

Chanteloup-les-Vignes, Yvelines, France

Box Office

Budget:

€2,590,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$309,811

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+,Cofinergie 6,Egg Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene with Vinz in the bathroom looking into the mirror was filmed with two actors mimicking each other. If it was a real mirror we would have seen the camera behind him.

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Goofs

The trip across Paris is strange : the three characters should arrive at the Saint-Lazare station(north-west of Paris), coming from ChanteloupLesVignes. Yet, when they arrive, they are in front of the Montparnasse station(south of Paris), on the Rennes street. Then, they go to Asterix place, on the boulevard Pierre Ier of Serbia, close to Iena Place (west of Paris), and when they try to catch the last train, this time they are at the Saint-Lazare station, the right one to go back. But then, when they are on the roof, they see the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero from the south-east, being probably close to Montparnasse station. Then, they come across a sculpture, L'Ecoute, in the Halles Garden(center of Paris), before going back. Hence, their trip goes : south, west, north-west, south and center of Paris.

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Quotes

Old Neighbor Lady: Stop ringing like that! Y'all think the world is yours?
Hubert: [turns away] This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real...

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Alternate Versions

In some English language subtitled (mainly American) versions the reference to the character of Said's friend who lives in the "posh towers" is 'Snoopy'. However, the untranslated dialogue says 'Asterix' and the woman who Vinz speaks to on the intercom laughs and says 'No, but his friend Obelix is here', whereas the translated version says 'No, but his friend Charlie Brown is.'. The reason Asterix and Obelix were changed to Snoopy and Charlie Brown in the subtitled version was because a lot of people are more familiar with those characters and possibly wouldn't understand the joke relating to Asterix and Obelix, which are two best friends in various French cartoon books by Goscinny & Uderzo.

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Connections

References Scarface (1983)

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Soundtracks

Musique de la série TV 'Chapi Chapo'
Written by François de Roubaix
© 1976 Editions de Alouettes
© Editions des Alouettes / Warner Chappell France

User Reviews

how can you sum up a film this beautiful & slick

I first saw this film in 1997, after seeing and reading reviews about it on tv and the net for a couple of years. I never thought a film could actually make you truly think about things around our world, not just how bad it can be in places like the projects set in the film. I could truly see this happening where I am from(Rochdale,Manchester,UK).

The situation set in the film is a dark and nasty one. you watch 3 friends fall apart from the aftermath of a riot in a parisian project.a friend is near-fatally injured in police custody, which sparks a chain of events, part forced onto the 3 friends, part of self-inflicted.

the acting is amazing. Vincent Cassel's performance is electrifying. his mentality is distorted with hate(hence the film name), but you truly feel he is not a bad seed. His problem is he can't see the wood for the trees, which Hubert tries to point out to him.

Hubert is a character who has the potential to better his life, but he is trapped in his parisian project cell. he tries to guide vinz to a healthier and more productive way of thinking about life.

said seems to be the one who doesn't want trouble, but it is thrust upon him. he sees the relationship between hubert and vinz, his 2 best friend, deteriorate, but doesn't know who to side with, or what to do about it.

Mathieu Kassovitz made this film in a way that you feel for both the police and the the 3 friends. It is amazing to watch, as mathieu takes the simplest things, and makes them look classy(check out the DJ scene for a true example of what I mean). he uses black and white as to colour, and it doesn't look fake, or cheesy. in fact it enhances the film more than you could imagine. you won't sit there and wish he filmed it in colour by the end. the action, although relatively mild compared to todays film, is believable.

speaking about the end, it is one of the most simplest and powerful endings I have seen in a film yet. the soundtrack is awesome too. who would have thought french hip-hop would sound so sweet.