An analysis of conflict in 'La Haine'

Representation
Diversity is widely explored in the small suburb setting as the film's three central characters all have different backgrounds and ethnic origins. Vinz, who wants to have leading power in the group, is Jewish. Saïd, who is like a little brother who needs to be taken care of, is Arabic. Hubert, a peaceful boxer in control of his emotions, is black. Because of this, a form of a unity is created against the racist and violent police forces - the characters know that on the estate, they have to close together to survive. The media also does them no favors, with television reports portraying young people as violent and aggressive characters. During a scene where a television reporter asks to interview the main characters and their gang, they become angry at the media's assumptions that they are violent, and act up out of spite.

Narrative
The film opens with archive footage of riot scenes. We are instantly introduced to the setting of the film - the aftermath of a riot in the French suburbs. We are also kept aware of the time of day quite frequently. Throughout the film, the screen changes every so often, displaying nothing but the time in a large font. This also alerts us that the events in the film all take place in one day. Another interesting factor is the news report that occurs as the riot scenes come to an end. More of the narrative and background to the story is is revealed here. A young man named Abdel is in hospital in a critical condition following beatings from a police officer. It is this character that maps out the events for the central characters, as he is a close friend of theirs.

Cinematography
A bird's eye view of the entire estate is given when the DJ plays his music from his apartment. For this shot, a camera was attached to a remote control helicopter, which looks down on the entire estate, showing everything that the characters have to live with. Because of this, the camera is shaky, but the director commented that this was a good thing as it creates a more realistic outlook. Also, the use of wide-angle lenses creates a very a dramatic effect, especially when the bouncers are shot by Vinz's friends. Although he has his back turned to the action, we can still see his re-action to the violence. The use of focus is another important feature. Throughout this film, focus is shifted from one character to another by the use of sound, rather than action (the final scene when the car pulls up and Hubert is walking away). The affect in display here is to make us think that the dialogue is more important, compared to what happens around the characters.