As the opening credits roll
for Mathieu Kassovitz's raw, vital and captivating "Hate,"
we're shown clearly authentic footage of a riot in one of
Paris' dreary suburban housing projects. We're told that it's
been sparked by the severe beating by police of an Arab youth,
Abdel, and then continuing in black-and-white, Kassovitz
introduces us to three young men who are his friends.
They are Vinz (Vincent
Cassel), a Jew; Hubert (Hubert Kounde), a black; and Said, an
Arab; and Kassovitz follows them throughout a restless,
aimless day and night after they've learned that their friend
is in the hospital and might not survive.
They are best
pals--routinely hassled by the cops, sometimes with needless
and extreme humiliation and savagery--and a lot of what they
do goes well beyond prankishness into the outright criminal
activities that are doubtlessly a basic means of support. They
are frustrated and oppressed, but Hubert, an aspiring boxer
and by far the most intelligent and reflective of the three,
and the good-natured Said are capable of keeping their cool.
Abdel's fate, however, has given focus to Vinz's rage and
could easily consume him and others should Abdel
die--especially since Vinz has gotten hold of a gun.
They all live in a vast,
fairly new Postmodern-style project that's already heavily
vandalized, an example of failed social planning so familiar
in the United States. But then the entire film has a
deliberate American feel and serves as a comment on the
well-nigh universal saturation of American pop culture--and
also the widening gap between rich and poor around the world.
Kassovitz's young men dress
American-style, listen to American music and use American
expressions. As for Kassovitz, his own go-for-broke visual
bravura and highly charged storytelling are so American in
feel that the news that he plans his next picture for
Hollywood seems inevitable.
Yet this strong American
influence serves Kassovitz well in setting off the camaraderie
between the three young men who would not likely be as close
if they really were American. They are united in poverty and a
common enemy, a racist, bigoted French bourgeoise exemplified
by the brutal behavior of the deeply hated cops, and their
solidarity lends the film both irony and poignancy.
Kassovitz's amusing debut
film, "Cafe au Lait," an up-to-the minute romantic comedy
involving an interracial menage-a-trois, in which Kounde also
appeared, scarcely prepares you for the scalding "Hate" with
its bold, even flashy style; Pierre Aim is Kassovitz's
can-do-anything cinematographer. Yet the film, which last
weekend won the Cesar Award as France's best film of the year,
is highly expressive of the tumultuous passions that grip Vinz, Hubert and Said, all of whom are played with grit and
impact. (One of the few other key presences in the film is
Tadek Lokcinski as an elderly man who tells them a wry tale of
survival.) "Hate" is a visceral fable of a divided society
heading blindly for a crash-landing.
From Calendarlive
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