La Haine

(Hate)

Shot in black and white, La Haine is the story of three friends in their early twenties coming from immigrant families and living in a poor multi-ethnic housing project in the ghetto of Paris, which French people refer to as the “banlieue.” Vinz is an angry Jewish adolescent who believes he is a gangster, Hubert is a thoughtful, Afro-French boxer who deals hashish and wants to leave the ghetto, but unlike his friends, does not provoke the police. Said is a Maghrebin who plays the role of mediator between his two friends. The movie is about the single, most decisive day of their lives.

The action takes place the day after a riot between the youth of this banlieue and the police forces. The riot occurred because a friend of theirs, Abdel Ichaha, is in a coma after a police inspector beat him up while in custody. Vinz found a revolver that a police officer had lost during the altercation and claims that if Abdel dies, he will use it to kill a cop in order to make it even. Hubert is totally against this idea, but Vinz does not care and carries it around, drawing it for no reason, which makes Hubert weary of him the whole time. Since their lives are boring and there is nothing for them to do in their ghetto, they decide to go to Paris where they hope to find something entertaining to do.

Unfortunately, the situation in Paris is the same and they are forced to face the hostility of Parisians, which leads to Said and Hubert's arrest. The situation gets even worse for them because the policemen responsible of their arrest physically abuses them, humiliates them, and makes them stay at the police station late enough to be sure they would miss their last train home. Therefore, they have to spend the night on the streets where Said and Hubert are savagely attacked by a bunch of racist skinheads. Vinz puts an end to this lynching by threatening them with his gun, which makes them flee. However, one of them does not have time to