'La Haine' is a 1995 social realism crime drama, written and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, the film gives audience members a detailed insight into the lives of our three protagonists (Vinz, Hubert, and Saïd) over 19 consecutive hours. The narrative revolving around their battle against police oppression in the French ghettos were racial tension is high after a incident involving the police left a member of their diverse community in critical health. Themes of the film included friendship, violence, oppression, and injustice, all three of our protagonists contributing to the effective delivery of these themes due to the difference in characteristics, concluding in a thought provoking experience for audience members as we are able to relate to different characters as they continuously contradict their character traits leaving us questioning who is in the right through out the film, and how we would personally react if in their situation.
Cinematography was exceptional through out the film in terms of capturing the environment and displaying various emotions felt by each of the characters, as well as creating deeper meaning and possibly even adding to the films notorious reputation as one of the best films to come out of the 90s. Many stylistic elements evident in the cinematography as well as the urban realism can be closely compared to Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing', which also focussed on a particular area in which racial tension was high between people resulting in tragic finales.
