How does the structure of La Haine convey some of the key messages and values of the film?

The film is structured in two halves. The first half is focused around the projects of which the main characters Said, Vinz and Hubert have been brought up. Throughout the half, the cinematography is much more fluid. The editing is used less and single steadicam shots fill up a lot of this half. This creates and relaxed atmosphere which suggests that the characters feel quite comfortable in this environment. However there are certain shots in half which connotes that the characters are not a free as initially presented: 

As Said shouts to Vinz's sister, he is shot close up with the blocks of flats in the projects towering over him. This creates quite a claustrophobic feeling and re-enforces the idea of 'Non-French' people being trapped into poverty and being unable to escape. Another shot which departs from the comfortable environment created by the fluid shots is as Said and Vinz walk to the gym. Up to this point, the camera tracked the characters up to that point, but suddenly stops. This has been done so that they appear small and insignificant. This refers to number of people killed by the police in France in which numbers at the time of the film were so high that each person ended up as a number, a statistic. This shot re-enforces the link between the film and reality.

Up to this point, the films use of fluid cinematography has created a "realistic" almost documentary-feel film. However towards the end of the second half, the camera almost floats above the projects and looks towards the city. Kassovitz has used this camera shot to represent the heart and soul of the residents of the projects. Although we are lead to believe that they are comfortable in this environment, it connotes that the hearts of the residents, they really wish to become part of France and that currently the don't feel part of it. This is also re-enforced by the music by DJ Killa which has mixed the hip hop music genre - popular in the projects, with the well known French song, No Regrets. This combination connotes that they want to be part of French culture, but not be assimilated.