Roof Top Scene- La Haine Analysis

In this scene we see a group of citizens discussing guns and the film "Lethal Weapon". This is important as it is a US cultural signifier. This reinforces the fact that these citizens of the projects adopt  a surrogate culture in order to feel a sense of belonging. This surrogate culture is usually a mix of many different cultures. Speaking of which, it is also important to note that on this rooftop there are many different generations and ethnicities of people, all uniting underneath the surrogate culture that they have adopted. After this we see the police and the mayor coming towards the building that the citizens are on. As soon as the police and mayor are spotted. They have abuse and bottles hurled at them. This is in contrast to a scene later on in the film This tells us that although the mayor and police are technically the authority. In the environment of the projects, they are the outsiders and have no control of this environment. This is also highlighted when Nadine, Said's older brother, tells the police and the mayor to leave the rooftop. Said, in the film, appears fatherless, however he does have a male role model in Nadine. This is shown when Said hides behind Nadine when he steals a hotdog and Nadine tells him to go and he complies with little resistance . When the police and mayor are trying to persuade the citizens to leave the roof, we see one of the citizens reference the notre dame jacket that one of the officers are wearing, the citizen calls the police officer notre dame, which is a French way of calling someone feminine. In another part of this scene e see Vinz and Hubert discussing jail, in this conversation Vinz reveals that he would rather go to jail than do community service, Hubert thinks he is stupid, but Vinz's reasoning for wanting to go prison is simply because he's one of the few people in their community who has not been in prison. Vinz feels as if the only way to be seen as a member of that community is if you have went to prison. Vinz wants respect and acceptance among his peers, since he cannot acquire that respect from the "real" french people due to aspects beyond his control, but he can control weather or not he goes to prison.