Don't buy or rent this film.....
Its rubbish. I persevered with up to half way, but could not take any more. Nothing happened and you simply do not care about the cliche characters. Do yourself a big favour and give this total bore a miss.

Materpiece
i came across this movie through hip hop circles as the soundtrack and the movie iteself features some excellent music and dj's. I dont understand a word of french and watched this a couple of times in order the really get the most out of it. Its a typical view of inner city life as viewed from the point of three friends. and essentially could be translocated to most inner cities, however the french language being as beautiful sounding as it is really adds to this film. The interactions and exploits of the main charecters is as lively as you would expect from teenages friends and at time is extremely funny and fast paced. The 'so far so good' opening sequence really installs an inevitability factor to the movie which is realised in the very last scene of the movie itself and as such this isn't about what happens but more about the journey the three friends take getting there. Definately and enjoyable film to watch.

Emperor's Clothes
I thought this film was incredibly over rated - there was no structure to it and the main characters were stereotyped to the point where it almost became predictable. There is a trend now that if you have filmed something poor then it will be released as b/w to give it an 'arty' look. Like the Blair Witch Project, this is another film where people like to say they enjoyed it to be thought of as intellectual. Really though it is quite dull

stunning cinematography......
.....i saw this film when it first came out on VHS as my flatmate was studying french at the time and he brought it home one day. All of the above reviews highlighting the social commentary aspect of the film ring true, however the most striking thing about it is the breathtaking cinematography. I do not really know an awful lot about this field but some of the camera-work is baffling, there is a shot of a dj at his decks at the window in a block of flats, the camera comes from over his shoulder out of the window and out into the courtyard of the flats about fifty feet in the air. Another shot is one where the three main protagonists are standing on a balcony and the shot is like the one in jaws where schneider see's the shark for the first time, except it seems to keep going for ages, it blew my mind when i first saw it.

Its worth mentioning that the sound track is unreal as well zapp's 'more bounce to the ounce' is one of my personal favorites.

Brilliantly acted, intelligent, a total delight, MUCH more than just "thuggish hoodies"
Had to respond to another reviewer's assessment. Basically although the film may be gritty, hard-hitting, controversial, a shocking indictment of XYZ, yadayada, most reviews are not mentioning that it is also in parts just really breathtakingly funny. The constant back-and-forth and all-talking-at-once dialogue between the three main characters, which was mostly improvised between actors who knew each other well already from other projects, is razor-sharp, witty, nuanced, playful and just really cool, is full of FABULOUS convoluted ways to mortally insult people, which is always useful, and is often just cutting, skillful wordplay like good, fast narrative rap. This gets overlooked 'cos La Haine has been crippled by THE most hideously botched subtitling job EVER, where some bunch of clowns in an ad agency in Ohio with five words of French between them and a bunch of Cypress Hill records took ten minutes to throw together a cod South-Central "gangsta" script that is inarticulate, dull, clumsy and repetitive and completely misses the intelligence and wit of the dialogue by a mile. They also bodged every single reference to French culture and politics, whether 'cos they didn't get it or 'cos they thought the audience wouldn't I don't know, but this in particular was a real disservice to what the film was saying about the specific situation in France at the time. Just one example, where Said says to Vince at one point something like "what are you, a cross between Moses and Bernard Tapie", (Tapie being a minor corrupt politician and tabloid-fodder controversial wheeler-dealer manager of Marseille FC) this is shown as as "between Moses and Mickey Mouse" - who? Whats the excuse there then? Like there's no US/UK equivalent they could have used? Ross Perot? Neil Hamilton? Ron Atkinson? I have watched La Haine way too many times, as you can tell, and although I still find the written text a necessary basic prop to keep up with this way non-standard backslangy fast idiom, every time I watch it I understand a bit more of the nuances and realise just how much the subtitles have missed. Absolute bleeding traversty. Kassovitz should so get Mike Skinner and Mos Def together to redo the translation for the 20th anniversary edition (Matthieu! Get your people to phone my people! Later daaahling, MWAH!)- the reception of the film would be TOTALLY different, and much more what it deserves. On another point the really close interdependence and affection between the main characters is dead sweet, to use a technical term, makes a lovely positive counterpoint to the violence of the events of the film, and makes what happens even more powerful and moving. Also if you enjoyed the film do yourself a favour and watch Metisse too and also check out the first three Assassin albums. My two centimes.

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