La Haine (1995)

A penetrating drama about the dehumanization of immigrants and the pendulum swing of violence.

Directed by: Mathieu Kassovitz

Cinematography by: Pierre Aïm

Country: France

Genre: Crime/Drama

“I feel like an ant lost in intergalactic space.”

In La Haine, French filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz tells the story of the alienation and helpless rage felt by three immigrants in the impoverished Parisian banlieus after a friend is beaten into a coma by the police during a riot.

The trio wander aimlessly throughout the city, trying to find a channel for their fear and anger while encountering bigotry at every turn. Displacement and the feeling of being unwanted in one’s own home tangle together, creating an ever-tightening knot of frustration and existential grief; La Haine is seemingly prescient, but likely reflects more of a deep-rooted, unfortunate reality that’s afflicted immigrants ever since we started drawing lines in the sand.

Kassovitz displays how when hatred and contempt build and build, becoming walls that close in, robbing people of their humanity, making them feel like animals trapped in a cage, the inevitable outcome always seems to be violence: a monster of our own creation swinging back, in turn causing others to grab their torches and pitchforks, until all that’s left is a colorless world of rubble and ash.

Distributed by: The Criterion Collection / Gramercy Pictures