La Haine

It does not surprise me that a 1995 film about police brutality would include a barrage of references to black American culture. In fact, all the characters are mesmerized by US culture, but the strong sensibility of resistance is incredibly French. Think of the monologue by the Franco-Polish man, describing the struggle he went through before being exiled to Siberia. I feel this film seeks to, fairly successfully, unite the struggles of an oppressed minority in a police state. Our heroes are stop-n-frisked, racially profiled, arrested multiple times…  This film has that boiling pot tension of Do the Right Thing, and even with peppers it (red peppers, of course) with humor. The haircut scene had me dying. Astérix wearing a towel and whipping his nunchucks (this is not a euphemism). The mirror hype up scene… I could write an essay about the reflections our characters see themselves in. What they see and what they’re looking for.  I hoped my French would carry me further, but the deep usage of ‘90s French slang went almost entirely over my head. And I can’t use the slang I learned without sounding like a poor youth from the 90s. Also homie wrote, edited, and directed this film and then went on to star as the romantic interest in Amélie… crazy