The film I have chosen for this question is the film ‘La Haine’, a French film directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, and is a film that comments and represents the riots and killings of migrants in the 1990’s riots in France. Kassovitz uses many features and techniques in order to make the film seem more realistic, in order to show how the film is representative of migrants and the police force in Paris and France. However, there are some ways in which the film can be criticised for being unrealistic and unrepresentative.
At the beginning of the film, there is a realistic feeling given by a realistic frame view, as the film starts by showing real footage from the riots in Paris. It then cuts to a fictional report from a news station. This helps to make the film more realistic as it gives the film a documentary feeling, making it seem like it is factual, while the film from that point onwards it is fictional. There are also other factors that help to give the film a realistic feeling as many of the shots and features are shot at their respective places, such as all the shots of the Les Banlieues are shot on the actual projects of Paris. This helps to give the film a realistic view on the place in which it is focused, as it shows the actual living conditions and way of life of migrants and those who live in the projects. This helps us to understand the feelings of the migrants as they are living in such poor conditions and are living in an underclass society, while also being discriminated and racially abused by the Police.
The use of the names of the trio also helps to make the film more realistic as they are the actual names of the actors who play the trio. This shows that the actors are actually from the projects of France and so understand what it is like to live there, and also make it seem more realistic as it shows that the actors are friends behind the camera, showing that despite being different ethnicities, they are friends despite their ethnicities past history.
Another way in which the film provides a realistic representation is its representation of interrogation by the police. In the film, the scene in which Hubert and Said are interrogated is representative of many that happened in France, many of which led to the deaths of many migrants at the hands of the police. One of the killings that it is representative of is the killing of Makole M’Bowle, as the situation for the arrest of Hubert and Said is very similar to that of his and what happens in the interrogation is very similar to the M’Bowle case. Hubert and Said are arrested for a simple disturbance within the community when simply looking for a friend, a case that is not arrest worthy, but the ethnicity of the two also contributes to their arrest. M’Bowle was also arrested and cruelly interrogated for stealing a cigarette, a very minor case of theft for which he was killed. Within the M’Bowle killing, it is noted that the police officer accidentally shot him after intimidating him by putting a gun to his neck, and within the interrogation scene within the film one of the officers threatens Hubert, saying “I’ll put a gun to your neck,” this would help the French audience and those who have an understanding of the context of the film as they would know about the M’Bowle death, and so would know that this is a frequent occurrence in the police when interrogating and torturing migrants, and feel like there could be a real chance of Hubert being shot by the police officer. This helps to give the film a more realistic feel as it is based on a real death, and gives the audience a feel like it could actually result in the death of Hubert due to the amount of times it has actually happened.
However, the film can be criticised for being unrealistic. One of the reasons for this is that we don’t get the point of view from the police, denying us a chance to see what the police see and get a full understanding of what they feel. There is also the case of almost every police officer in the film being shown as a racist and discrimination officer, bar 2, one of which is only good due to his connection to the migrants on the terms of his ethnicity. This provides an unrealistic feeling to the film as it is very biased in terms of representation of the police, and doesn’t show the fact that there are still good police within the police institution.
• Talk about 3 different ethnicity groups becoming friends – very unlikely due to history
• Deaths of Abdel and Vinz being close together – they’re only a number in the 300+ who died.
• Representation of Hubert – selling drugs for money in order to support himself and his family
• M’Bowle & interrogation – creates a connection between reality and fiction of the film
• American influence – many migrants use American influence in their culture because they are rejected the French culture.
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