La Haine (1995)

“It’s about a society on its way down. And as it falls, it keeps telling itself: “So far so good… So far so good… So far so good.” It’s not how you fall that matters. It’s how you land.”

Name of Film: La Haine (1995)

Language: French

Duration: 98 minutes

Director: Mathieu Kassovitz

Cast: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili

When I watched La Haine back in 2020, it instantly became my favourite film of all time. Nearly three years and hundreds of films later, it still retains that top spot.

In only his second feature-length film, actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz manages to portray a narrative to the viewer that is, on the face of it, mundane. The film could easily make one of those “10 Films that had no plot” lists on a mainstream entertainment website, but that is where its brilliance lies. It shows a seemingly simple day in the life of three teens in the suburbs of France. But, its portrayal of that “routine” is so gripping and poignant that it leaves a lasting impression on the viewer. It uses the classic show, not tell to effectively convey its message to the audience, while respecting their intellect.

La Haine opens with a montage of civil unrest and riots in a French suburb, coupled with news footage. The narrator, meanwhile, tells the story of a man who falls from a skyscraper. As he passes each floor on his fall, he reassures himself by saying “So far so good… So far so good”. “How you fall doesn’t matter, it’s how you land!” becomes the main theme of the film, focusing on a society in decline, showing pointless comfort to itself while ignoring the pressing issues.

Said, opens his eyes, and our story starts. We quickly meet the other two teens who would be our protagonists for the day. Vinz, a Jew, is young and aggressive, while Hurbert, an African French who wants to “escape” the suburbs and create a better life for himself. Said is the mediator between these two, whose approach to situations is often different. Vinz is hot-headed and often radical, while Hurbert prefers to play it safe. All three men come from immigrant families. We follow their story the day after a riot, as a relatively normal day ends in tragedy.

Their day is filled with discovering .44 magnums, getting arrested, crashing elite art exhibitions, and picking fights with other skinheads and policemen. But along the way, in the normalness of their life, we see a society in decline, and multiple systemic issues like police brutality, social inequality and class divides. All these issues are presented to us in a very raw, yet sometimes subtle manner.

While tackling these border, worldly issues, the film also does a splendid job portraying the insignificance of our characters, and how they are largely powerless to escape the unfair cycle of violence and injustice they are trapped in. The three are constantly framed as tiny figures compared to the setting around them. No matter what they do, they find themselves on the wrong side of the law, or the people supposedly upholding it. Moulded by a world like this, the three ultimately believe the world, and the law, as unfair and rigged. One of the scenes shows the three walking by a billboard stating, “La Monde est a Vous” (The world is yours). They replace the V with a N (The world is ours).

The film also uses many other ways of visual storytelling, which includes the decision to shoot the film in a monochromatic black-and-white colour scheme, which not only looks very cool, but also shows the lack of colour and hope in the lives of our characters. And of course, who could forget the iconic dolly zoom shot in Paris?

Our three characters return home early in the morning. Vinz hands over the gun to Hubert and says his goodbyes. Just then, a plainclothes officer spots the stolen cop gun, and seizes Vinz. He threatens Vinz with a gun to his head, with Hurbert rushes to his aid. A tense confrontation starts and ends with a bang. The cop accidentally shoots Vinz in the head. Hubert and the cop both aim their gun at each other’s heads. In the final frame of the film, Said closes his eyes to avoid looking at what follows, and another gunshot is heard; and the screen cuts to black.

It remains unclear who fires the shot; but it ultimately doesn’t matter. The cycle of senseless violence and injustice rolls on. The film ends with a voiceover by Hubert mirroring the opening lines of the film, “It’s about a society on its way down. And as it falls, it keeps telling itself: “So far so good… So far so good… So far so good.” It’s not how you fall that matters. It’s how you land.”