The movie La Haine is about the three guys namely Vinz who is Jewish, Hubert who is black and Said who is Arabic and their struggles in the society they are living. They are from immigrant families living in an impoverished multi-ethnic French housing project, which is a place upshot with riots. They are young men from lower rungs of the French economic ladder in which rampant unemployment is a problem. The three men hang out and wander the streets as a way of filling their days and sometimes caught up in skirmishes between police and youths who are into the use of drugs. The movie shows the two important issues about social problems and these are social deprivation and cultural alienation because of a high concentration of young people from immigrant backgrounds which resulted riots in French society. It also emphasizes the perspective about “hatred” as a strong emotion which can lead to violence. The concepts which were discussed in our Anthropology class were also raised in the film such as the topic about society and culture as the idea that society constitutes a set of relationships that configure a patterned phenomenon. Also the issue about races and the traits that are distributed which is due to migration.
While to most outsiders Paris seems the very picture of beauty and civility, France has had a long and unfortunate history of cultural alienation in which there is intolerance toward outsiders, and this powerful drama takes an unblinking look at a racially diverse group of young people trapped in the Parisian economic and social underclass. The film actually shows the struggles of the three men as they continue to unfold the issues in their society. The issue about social deprivation is shown when a guy named Abdel Ichaha who is a friend of theirs has been tortured by the police and lies in a comma. The negative effects of violence in one’s life is evident when Vinz found a police revolver gun lost in the riot and he vows that if their friend dies, he will use the gun to kill a cop. Then when he heard the death of his friend, he wanted revenge and it had boosted his anger against the police men. Cultural alienation is also reflected when one day, they took a train to Paris where Hubert and Said was caught by sadistic Parisian plainclothes police. They also got into a scuffle with a group of racist skinheads, the circumstance seem poised for tragedy not until Vinz came in and break the fight by pointing his gun to the skinheads and they had trapped on of their members. It revealed how people foreign in the place are treated. This is also the situation where Vinz discovered that he is not a heartless gangster by letting the skinhead flee before he would continue to shot him with the gun. When they got home and split up to their own homes,Vinz turned over the gun to Hubert and decided to change and potentially opening the door to personal growth. But he was shot to death by a cop. Hubert and the policeman slowly and deliberately point their guns at each other. The movie ended as Said closed his eyes then a shot was heard without any indication who may have been hit.
As a student, I was able to reflect the movie with the situation going on in our society. We are actually experiencing social problems that truly exhaust us. Social deprivation is one issue, our environment is being engulfed with corrupt officials that deprive us with societal progress and wealth. With the wrong doings of these ruthless people, we are actually denied of our rights to fight for true justice and clean government. This problem also resulted with insurgents fighting against the government through wars. Just like in the movie, the youths are eager to fight the police as a sign of revenge in the government. The youths are able to express their grievances despite of social deprivation. Just like in our community, there are rallies on the streets to show protests against the unjust government. The film also reflected the power of language as a way of showing anger and strong emotions. With the way we express ourselves, language serves as a bridge in breaking the barrier in relating our inner thoughts.
The movie had a huge impact in the French society, as it emphasizes the mixes of ethnics that influenced them to override the importance of solidarity against the police. As concepts about culture and society refer to phenomenon that are real and not simply an abstraction, the film was able to show the real situation of the people in France who seemed to be deprived of their peaceful living as the rampant violence continue to engulf the place. As what we have discussed in Anthropology class, Turner stated that the creative tension between rebelliousness and social order could resolve itself in various ways. It could become a radical force of change, but it could also become absorbed into the social system, eventually becoming part of the established order. The societal issues shown by the film should serve as an eye opener to the true situations that the people around the world are experiencing. We should not keep our mouth shut, our eyes closed and our hearts locked. Start fighting for our rights, search for justice and open our hearts for unity. It is truly an exploration towards a better view about life but when a mystery is too overpowering, dare not disobey.
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