La Haine - Hatred

It's the story of a society in free fall. To reassure itself, it repeats endlessly. "So far so good, so far so good, so far so good..." The important thing isn't the fall, it's the landing.

This film is the story not only of three teenage "banlieusards" (people of the suburbs) but also the story of life in the less affluent areas of Paris, stuck in a life of hatred, violence and drugs that they can't get out of.

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, the film is set in black and white, there is no beauty or happiness in the film. It represents a time when there is nothing good, the suburbs have nothing to offer and the world is black.

One of the youths, Vinz, finds a gun and feels that this earns him respect. When one of his friends dies after being involved in a riot, Vinz feels he has to "restore balance" by killing a police officer. His older and wiser friend Hubert realises that this is not the appropriate thing to do and does not believe that Vinz will be able to do it. The third teenager, Said, sides with the police officers trying to make Vinz see sence.

Hatred breeds hatred. Gun crime leads to gun crime.

After disaster strikes the trio, we are left with a cliffhanger as to who pulled the trigger in the final few seconds of the film. The ending few words are the, several times repeated throughout the film, words I started this post with.