La Haine is a scathing critique of police brutality wrapped inside a thoroughly engrossing story of a day in the life of three young friends, all desperate to leave their mark in different ways. It only gets tougher to watch on repeat viewings and refuses to offer easy answers. Influential, iconic and stunningly composed from the first frame with a faultless ending to finish it off.
Vincent Cassel and Saïd Taghmaoui are excellent at portraying the aimlessness of their characters. All the stories they tell are greatly exaggerated in an attempt to sound more experienced than they are and the way it's constantly getting under Hubert Koundé's skin is terrific. He's the only one with a clear goal and the lack of false bragging on his part shows he really understands the cost of taking a life.
Despite this growing distance between the three of them, they still have a completely believable rapport. The way they bounce off each other feels so natural and even with the clashing ideologies they're still friends who'll help each other out or get a good laugh out of tormenting each other. Both the scenes where a drunk person helps them steal a car and the gentleman tells them a story in the toilet are major standouts.
Mathieu Kassovitz's direction is amazing, setting the scene with a world set ablaze by a molotov. The way the characters are constantly trying to draw attention to themselves even when in the backgrounds is so gripping that you almost don't notice Pierre Aïm's accomplished cinematography that moves effortlessly through the scenes and pulls off some pretty incredible manoeuvres.
Vincent Cassel and Saïd Taghmaoui are excellent at portraying the aimlessness of their characters. All the stories they tell are greatly exaggerated in an attempt to sound more experienced than they are and the way it's constantly getting under Hubert Koundé's skin is terrific. He's the only one with a clear goal and the lack of false bragging on his part shows he really understands the cost of taking a life.
Despite this growing distance between the three of them, they still have a completely believable rapport. The way they bounce off each other feels so natural and even with the clashing ideologies they're still friends who'll help each other out or get a good laugh out of tormenting each other. Both the scenes where a drunk person helps them steal a car and the gentleman tells them a story in the toilet are major standouts.
Mathieu Kassovitz's direction is amazing, setting the scene with a world set ablaze by a molotov. The way the characters are constantly trying to draw attention to themselves even when in the backgrounds is so gripping that you almost don't notice Pierre Aïm's accomplished cinematography that moves effortlessly through the scenes and pulls off some pretty incredible manoeuvres.