La Haine opening sequence

The opening sequence of the film begins with a shot of a petrol bomb being thrown at an image of the Earth, visually this prepares the audience for the angry and destructive sequence that is about to follow. This shot is narrated by Hubert's narration "So far, so good", this introduces the films key message about French society that for now the protests and fighting can continue but at some point something will happen and cause change. The use of the petrol bomb itself has connotations of a "revolution" due to petrol bombs being easy to produce making them perfect weapons for protesters, etc.

Text appears stating the film is dedicated to people who died taking part in protests during the making of the film, this indicates that the events that take place in the film are still taking place before, during and after the production of the film.

The sequence continues to show police fitting their cars with window protectors like they are preparing for war, during this there are cut ins to show different groups of peaceful protesters slowly walking and dancing. This shows a direct contrast between the two indicating that the protesters and harmless and peaceful where as the police are the opposite and are preparing for violence.

A shot shows a single civilian standing alone facing a large group of police officers, the shot is from behind the civilian causing the audience to be on the side of the civilian so the audience themselves take the civilian's point of view. The police are dressed in all black riot uniform that covers their faces which makes the police look inhuman and intimidating and the fact there's a large group of them adds to the intimidation, in contrast the civilian is alone standing up against them making him look heroic but vulnerable because the opposition is much bigger than himself. The civilian says "We have stones, you have guns", this makes the police seem cowardly because not only are they against a much smaller force but they also have more effective weapons and have more power. Due to the positioning of the audience they take the side of the civilian but they are also made to dislike the police and view them as the enemy because it seems like the police instigate the violence and are against the civilian.

The sequence continues to show different shots of the police instigating violence, for example dragging someone across the floor. This furthermore positions the police as the enemy and the police instigating the violence which then causes the civilians to retaliate adds to this. A non diegetic song plays over the sequence of the police and protesters being violent says "Uniforms of brutality" stating the point of view of the protesters as they view the police as brutal.

The song continues as the sequence begins to end from the real riot footage to the fictional world of the film. The riot footage changes to a fake news report about one of the films character's friend and then shifts to one of the films characters Said, throughout this the song changes from non diegetic in the riot sequences to diegetic in the shot of Said, the song connects the two indicating they are based on the same events.