2021 Tarkovsky Prize Runner Up: William Nakamura
LA HAINE
by William Nakamura
The film, La Haine (1995), by Matthieu Kassovitz, was a symbolic representation of oppression in the eyes of three teenage boys. The movie follows three culturally diverse friends from the projects of Paris over 24 hours. They go on many adventures expressing their bliss and frustration, until their unfortunate demise. With intricate techniques used to develop ominous, exciting, and saddening scenes, my thoughts lingered as I became engrossed in the film. I especially grew fond of the way Hubert composed himself while overcoming adversity.
Police brutality is portrayed the same in the film as it is currently. The riots in the film are similar to those of the riots following the murder of George Floyd; the hospitalization and eventual death of Abdel was similar to the murder of James Scurlock. When the cops were interrogating Said and Hubert, they roared racist remarks, hurled spit, and beat them all the while they made a rookie observe. Rage and disgust boiled from within me, watching the boys get tortured I thought to myself, “If I were that rookie, what would I do?” Do I stand up for what I know is right or do I live in fear of my superior? Though Said had encountered a nice cop in the film, I could not help but share the disgust Vinz had for the police of Paris; the people sworn to protect and uphold the law, only to turn around and enjoy the classist divide.
There is nothing more inspiring than to see, hear, and share someone's passion of increasing success. At the end of the film Vinz says, “It's about a society on its way down. And as it falls, it keeps telling itself: ‘So far so good... So far so good... So far so good.’ It's not how you fall that matters. It's how you land.” For days I pondered the meaning behind this quote to which I realized that no matter what happens, the poor suffer. In the film, Hubert, a black teen, is the only person with a clear determination to graduate out of an impoverished life. He had started his own boxing gym as he was determined to get out of the slum of Paris: “...I want out of the projects mama,” showing he felt there was more to life than poverty and oppression. His words were touching, the idea is homogeneous to many students’ aspirations at Lowell. The hustle-and- bustle is a lifestyle my peers and I have become accustomed to; the drive to become better than each other and more successful than our past. After his dialogue, the film panned to a billboard with the words ‘The World Is Yours’ signifying Hubert’s ambition to break free from classism, racism, and privation.
One of the main themes in the film is how the boys deal with racism and inequality. During an altercation between Vinz and Hubert, Vinz questioned, “If you know what's right and wrong? Why do you side with the assholes?” Hubert responded, “Who's the asshole? If you stayed in school, you'd know that hate breeds hate.” Hubert’s words encourage a high road approach to beating the system within the system. In society, to earn respect you must become a successful and wealthy person. Hubert’s view of racism is seen as an opportunity to improve the world. When Said said ‘thank you’ to the cop when asking for directions, Vinz clowned him. However, Said understood that they live in a classist society; he correlated the nice part of town to fair police and the poor part with mean cops. Said and Hubert’s reactions to inequality is akin to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ideologies. Dr. King believed in peaceful protests to gain inches in the political world and preached patience and hard work to gain equal rights, much like Said and Hubert.
In a warm light, the film reminded me of the nights my friends and I would go on bike rides. Their loyalty to each other is similar to my own, giving each other hard times along with happy times-- no one could ask for more. Said, Vinz, and Hubert crashed an art exhibition to pass time and have fun; much like my friends and I flew down hills at 40 miles per hour hollering with joy. Their mischievous activities lead to thrilling police chases which placed a smile on my face; they were having fun together. During the interaction with Snoopy, the boys are offered a line of coke and they repeatedly decline. When Snoopy’s jerk-like behavior enrages Vinz, the other two boys hold Vinz back making sure that he does not get into more trouble. As the boys were running from the cops for loitering in the abandoned mall, memories of running around the city filled my head. Their disregard of infraction combined with their ultimate momentary happiness create images of bliss in the eyes of the viewer.
The movie La Haine is a touching film that portrays a view of poverty nearly identical to the cruel reality today, with highlights of joy and lowlights of oppression. The film follows three boys from the rough parts of Paris as they go about their day performing acts of delinquency and overcoming unfair humanity. I strongly recommend this film because it touches on racial and classist inequality through a young person’s perspective.