This sizzling piece of 1995 French cinema is as relevant today as it was at its explosive debut. Set in the banlieues area of Paris, we follow twenty hours in the lives of three young men (played by Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé and Saïd Taghmaoui), whose close friend Abdel is the victim of terrible police violence.
Written, co-edited and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (who was just twenty-six at the time), La Haine will re-ignite flames of discussion that began in the aftermath of the Paris riots of the 1990s, and that feel so prescient to today’s climate. Hubert’s famous line feels foreboding: ‘La Haine attire la haine!’, he says, ‘hatred breeds hatred.’
“Dazzling cinema” – The Guardian
★★★★★ ‘La Haine has lost none of its punch’ – Empire