La Haine - Must See French Film

La Haine  is a French black-and-white film directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, released in 1995.  It is about three teenage friends and their struggle to live life in the suburbs of Paris. The title derives from a line spoken by Hubert: "La haine attire la haine!", "hatred attracts hatred."

The film tells the story of three young friends in an impoverished multi-ethnic housing project (a ZUP -zone à urbaniser en priorité) in the aftermath of a great riot. Vinz (Vincent Cassel), who is Jewish, is filled with rage. He sees himself as a gangster ready to win respect by killing a cop, and models himself after Travis Bickle from the film Taxi Driver. Saïd - Sayid in some English subtitles - (Saïd Taghmaoui) is a happy and talkative North African who tries to find middle ground between his two friends' response to life. Hubert (Hubert Koundé) is an African boxer and drug dealer. Most quiet of the three, he sadly contemplates the ghetto and the hate around him. He is probably the only one who has a minimum of consciousness about the state of things. He wants to simply leave this decadent world of violence and hate behind him but doesn't know how since he lacks the means to do it. A friend of theirs, Abdel Ichaha, has been brutalised by the police after the riot and lies in a coma. Vinz finds a policeman's revolver, lost in the riots. He vows that if their friend dies from his injuries, he will use it to kill a cop.

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