La Haine — Oscar

Le Haine

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz

Photographed by Pierre Aïm

1995

Starring: Vincet Cassel, Saïd Taghmaoui, Hubert Koundé

A social commentary on abused authoritative power and police brutality, Le Haine carries many similarities to Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing. Switching Lee's vibrant colors for pale tinges of grey and black, Kassovitz tells the story of three young rebellious young men, residing on the outskirts of Paris as second generation immigrants. More than twenty years after its original release, this film is more than germane to contemporary social issues. The director excels at showing us how hopeless and powerless these kids feel, with effective visual techniques. A perfect example would be the dolly-zoom, or Hitchcockian zoom, that happens when they arrive to Paris. There is clearly movement in the shot, but us as the audience aren't too sure of it. As the camera is dollied out, the lens is zoomed in order to change the depth of field. This creates an effect or illusion that the city behind them is becoming bigger, as they are staying the same size. This shows exhaustion and defeat, like the city is too big for them to fight against it for what they believe is right. Although this is one of my favorite scripts ever written, I believe the film's true capability comes from its youth. Every time I watch this movie it feels young, like everyone that was a part of it truly busted their asses to make this avant-garde piece of art relevant. "Jusqu'ici tout va bien…"