La Haine should definitely be on your bucket list

La Haine is a french film, written and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. The film was released in 1995 and has rapidly grown in popularity in the world of cinema.


La Haine was released at a very defining moment in French Cinema where the mantel of Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut and Claude habrol was being replaced by the up and coming filmmakers who were not particularly influenced by the likes of Alfred Hitchcock or Orson Welles, but more by new American cinema like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Roman Coppola, and Spike Lee.

Vincent Cassel in La Haine (1995).Photo: IMDb

The film follows three young men and their time spent in a French suburban “ghetto,” over a span of 24 hours. Vinz – a Jew, Saïd – an Arab, and Hubert – a small time black boxer, have grown up in these French suburbs where high levels of diversity are coupled with racist and oppressive police forces that have ultimately raised tensions to a critical breaking point.

Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, and Saïd Taghmaoui in La Haine (1995).Photo: IMDb

What makes this film even more prevalent is the rise of the far-right in France at the time. The disillusionment and disenfranchisement of human civilisation is near and somehow, everyone either has to cope with living together or they face annihilation. And with each passing year, La Haine becomes more and more relevant to our ever-changing ideas of an ideal society and those who suffer under such consequences. And La Haine is my Bucket List Pick; a film that you have to watch before you kick the bucket!

Mathieu Kassovitz in La Haine (1995).Photo: IMDb