La Haine (1995)

If you haven't seen it, go see it. Its over a decade old and still beats the test of time. It was the first French film that truly showed that French cinema and daily life wasn't all about cheese, wine, and overdone poetic themes with little relevance to reality.

The most recent popular French movie I saw that came close to La Haine's gritty portrayal of ghetto Parisian life was The Class, though I can't say its my cup of tea when it comes to films, it reminds me too much of American movies that portray the White teacher as the savior of his dumb & colored students - something overdone throughout the 90s here in the states.

France should do away with the fake facade its producers present in movies and should begin producing grittier, less idealistic films. As well, India should really take a note from La Haine and stop with the Bollywood garbage, we all know India is capable of great filmmaking with the amount of material presented in the country.

I think we can all agree that one country truly deserving praise for its relentless pursuit of truth & grittiness in filmmaking is Brazil. Home to the bravest filmmakers in the world, if only more countries would copy from their moviemaking playbooks.

What do you guys think about certain movie industries and the lack of initiative to portray the harsher parts of daily life?

Double post

Originally Posted by Tajir

If you haven't seen it, go see it. Its over a decade old and still beats the test of time. It was the first French film that truly showed that French cinema and daily life wasn't all about cheese, wine, and overdone poetic themes with little relevance to reality.

The most recent popular French movie I saw that came close to La Haine's gritty portrayal of ghetto Parisian life was The Class, though I can't say its my cup of tea when it comes to films, it reminds me too much of American movies that portray the White teacher as the savior of his dumb & colored students - something overdone throughout the 90s here in the states.

France should do away with the fake facade its producers present in movies and should begin producing grittier, less idealistic films. As well, India should really take a note from La Haine and stop with the Bollywood garbage, we all know India is capable of great filmmaking with the amount of material presented in the country.

I think we can all agree that one country truly deserving praise for its relentless pursuit of truth & grittiness in filmmaking is Brazil. Home to the bravest filmmakers in the world, if only more countries would copy from their moviemaking playbooks.

What do you guys think about certain movie industries and the lack of initiative to portray the harsher parts of daily life?

I advice you to watch the moves of the Dardenne brothers, they're Belgian though, not French.

Compared to La Haine and the Brazilian Flavella-movies they're less aggressive and less brutal. But they show a very bleak and depressing image of the Belgian and French old industrial cities.
(they're called Rosetta, l'Enfant, La Promesse, La Silence de Lorna,...)

Some other French movies, and more similar to this one are Irreversible, Seul contre tous and Quai 36 or something


Movies like that are actually made all over the world, but not in Hollywood of course which means no marketing and rarely will you hear about them if not from the country itself.


(this reminded me I have to see La Haine again, it's been 10 years probably)

Originally Posted by Maraud

I advice you to watch the moves of the Dardenne brothers, they're Belgian though, not French.

Compared to La Haine and the Brazilian Flavella-movies they're less aggressive and less brutal. But they show a very bleak and depressing image of the Belgian and French old industrial cities.
(they're called Rosetta, l'Enfant, La Promesse, La Silence de Lorna,...)

Some other French movies, and more similar to this one are Irreversible, Seul contre tous and Quai 36 or something


Movies like that are actually made all over the world, but not in Hollywood of course which means no marketing and rarely will you hear about them if not from the country itself.


(this reminded me I have to see La Haine again, it's been 10 years probably)

I'll check out irreversible, I've heard good things about it.

I'd like to see subjects aside from poverty alone portrayed in European films; subjects like racism should play a part too. Europe needs a Spike Lee. I think La Haine really reminded me of "Do the Right Thing."

And my biggest quarrel with European movies that depict poverty is, as you said, the exploitation of sympathy in those films. They're so slow and boring, downright pathetic; they don't put us in the shoes of the people we're watching, they just allow us to observe the misery.

And I agree that American filmmaking has become a complete joke. Portrayals of street life have been reduced to hip-hop themed dance movies or glorification of dead industry figures.

Brazil, for the moment, is my go-to country for street-inspired epics. I wish however, that India would realize its potential to create such films - such wasted talent in such a talented country.

La haine is a great film! used to have it on dvd but someone stole it!

This is in my top 5 of favourite movies.