Opening Sequence of La Haine, Analysis

The film starts with a protester, framed by the camera to be alone, facing an onslaught of police. Immediately this positions the protester as the "good guy", he is the lone hero standing up against the oppressive state. This is proved even more from when he says. He states to the police that they have guns, while they only have stones. His use of language here is important as he says "we" instead of "I", although he is framed to be alone, this use of language tells us that this lone man is part of something bigger, almost like an uprising, he's positioned as almost a martyr who is prepared to fight the police despite the advantage that the police have. We then cut to a shot of police arming their vehicles with armour. This is juxtaposed by the shot we see next of peaceful protesting and dancing. This again positions the police as the enemy, creating an "us vs them" mentality. The police are positioned as a brutal force, we are made to believe that the police want war, while the people want change.

After this we cut to a shot of the police attacking protesters, which is then followed by shots of the protesters "retaliating". This shows the police as the antagonists, they are antagonising the protesters. And the protesters are defending themselves. After this we see shots of the police firing explosives at the rioters which is then juxtaposed by a shot of a rioter setting a bus aflame with a petrol bomb. The petrol bomb is the symbol of an oppressed uprising, it is cheap, easy to make, and easy to use. These are the weapons the rioters fight with as opposed to the more advanced weaponry used by the police. This also positions the rioters as the underdogs, they are the oppressed rising up against the evil empire.


Throughout all of this sequence, we seldom see the faces of the police officers, they are a faceless mass covered in black. As well as black always being used in film to position the bad guy, the fact that their faces are covered dehumanises them, to the point where we do not see individuals, alls we see is a faceless mass of extreme brutality. The rioters are all dressed normally. We are positioned to sympathise with the rioters, despite their actions being just as violent (if not more), than those they are fighting against.

The song playing throughout this sequence is "Burnin' and Lootin'" by Bob Marley. This is significant, as the lyrics tell the story of a group of oppressed people trying to find their place in the world, and subsequently uprising when they feel like they have no other option. The genre of the song, reggae is important too as it is a genre of music closely associated with rebelling. It is the music of the underclass, similar to the people depicted in the film.