La Haine

Another great film that should be included in all the must see lists that keep compiling and piling up has to be La Haine or if you want the less stylish English translation, The Hate. Shot in arresting black and white the film is fuelled by a sense of urgency and occasionally paces down for introspective moments. The theme and treatment of the film is no doubt sensational and doesn't exactly take a neutral and unbiased point of view on race relations in France but sure as hell makes up for a memorable film.

The director (Mathieu Kassovitz) owes much of the style of the film to Scorsese with making direct references to Taxi Driver, (the you talkin' to me scene) and Raging Bull with one of the characters, Hubert a trainee boxer though not in the mould of Jack La Motta. Vincent Cassel gets to play Vinz, the itchy ever picky guy. Teamed up with chatterbox Said the film charts the course of their life on one momentous day where the guys hang around, making loud frank jokes, smoke up, go to the inner city attend a barbecue on roof, somehow get invited to an art gallery after party and clash with skinheads, all the time carrying a stolen police gun. La Haine is a confrontational film such is attested by the opening credits with gangster rap playing to actual footage from the TV of street violence. If the film owes its all over style to Scorsese, in construct you can easily compare it Do the Right Thing. Colorful bevy of central characters, episodic nature of the film and the unforgettable clash at the end. Though wisely La Haine ends with a powerful emotional wallop, it provokes strong after thought about our world and how we are still plagued by stock problems that are made up of race, class and establishment.