Yael

**“How you fall doesn’t matter. It’s about how you land.”** La Haine is a story about three young man thinking they understand how to react to hate and police brutality. Vinz believes the only way this will stop is by fighting fire with fire. He believes in violence, and is done turning his left cheek. This is seen not only in his desire to kill a cop, it’s also shown in basic human interactions. Every single conversation with someone other than his friends has ended up in a fight or otherwise negative situation. He cannot handle his ego being hurt. Hubert is the opposite of Vinz. He is a pacifist, and wants to leave the Banlieue in search for a better life. Saïd is constantly bouncing between the two, representing changing moralities in times of stress. This brings me to the second point: when confronted, like really confronted with the police brutality and the hate, Vinz and Hubert act opposite to what they say they believe. Vinz has the chance to shoot someone as revenge, but he is too scared to do it. And when Hubert is thrown into the situation at the end of the movie, he doesn’t think twice about using violence. They both abandon what they stand for when confronted with reality, which is a very human thing to do. The last thing I noticed is how the film is basically a cycle: Someone is killed by police brutality, people get angry and revolt, things calm down, and someone gets killed by police brutality again. The ending is so shocking, but it’s very well done. Thanks for reading this yapfest, I hope you have a nice day!

It did NOT scratch the Obsession itch.  Maybe a bit mean to compare the two but I think there are some choices made that could’ve been better. It wasn’t that scary too, it was gross but not scary at all to me. Overall it was a fun watch.

**“Forgiveness is between them and God. Its my job to arrange the meeting.”** It’s like Gladiator, but in modern age (Even the songs sound similar). Maybe the best action movie there is, and that is because it leaves space for plot and character development. The action feels deserved and is on point (I love rave-party shoot outs). I’m not the biggest action fan but this movie gives me hope for what is possible with the one-man army revenge genre. Hermandad as a name for a brotherhood is stupid though, it’s like calling your clothing shop ‘Clothing Shop’.

Still so good on a rewatch. It’s amazing how you feel for Bear in the beginning. You understand how a failing crush is hurting him and you feel genuinely sad for him. But then it all switches up when he wishes. He’s a coward who refuses to accept reality as is and chooses either to ignore or alter consequences of things he has done. Like with the cat, where he says ‘How did you get that?’ while he was the one that was reckless with the pills. The real point where Bear changes from a reckless, selfish guy into an evil narcissist is when the real Nikki asks him to kill her, and he asks ‘Is it so bad to be with me?’. You are not the victim, Bear. You are the assaulter. The Hansel & Gretel story explains the entire movie. Gretel loves Hansel, while they are siblings. That love could only be conjured by the branch of a willow tree. To Nikki, Bear felt like a brother. And now she loves him. It’s so incredibly sad.