I think, from a lockdown point of view,
I do love the scene where there's the haircut.
♪ You're the reason it will last forever ♪
♪ When you know that you're, you know that you're the best ♪
Hi, I'm Izzy.
And I'm Eve.
And on today's Re.Play, we're talking about La Haine.
When was the first time you watched the film, Eve?
I think I first watched this film in French class,
that kind of thing where the teacher puts the film on in the background,
and I was definitely impressed by it,
but it was the classic where you watch half of the film
and then you have to go home for the day.
- Oh, that's so annoying.
And then picked it up a few years later and I was like,
'I recognise the first twenty minutes of this'. (laughter)
(hip-hop music)
Hey Vinz!
You talkin' to me?
(record scratching)
(music continues)
- Got a buck? - Yeah, for me!
- Here! - Stop, stop!
What caught your eye right from the opening scene?
Ooh!
I mean-,
okay, it sounds weird, but the lack of women.
That's what I felt just, like, really from the beginning.
With my friend, we were watching it and we counted,
and I think you have to get to twenty minutes in to see one woman,
because it's all the young men and that kind of, like-,
Is that his sister shouting from the balcony?
- Yeah. - You're right, it is.
It's definitely a male-dominated narrative.
I don't know though, you also-,
I think it deserves to be led by men,
but you wonder if the female side characters
could maybe be a bit more diverse, I don't know,
because you have the kind of pretty woman in the gallery
that they chat up later on and things, but yeah.
- No, that's so true.
So what about you, what caught your eye?
I think even from-, obviously the opening credits
to this film are quite startling, because they are
what I'm guessing is real footage of riots and police action
in Paris, in France.
They've chosen the footage that they've put in
for a very specific reason,
and I think one that caught my eye in particular is,
it's lots of policemen in their full gear and I think they're-,
I think they're throwing flares or tear gas or throwing something,
and there's one policeman at the back who looks like an excited boy.
He's just jumping up and down, like, really excited by this violence
and yeah, that was definitely noticeable.
So what was your favourite scene?
Um, it's so hard, there are so many to choose from, but I do-,
I think, from a lockdown point of view,
I do love the scene where there's the haircut...
- Oh my gosh, yeah! - ...in Vinz's flat.
He cuts his hair and he's not happy with it,
and it's the classic thing. He's like, 'Okay, so show me.'
and then Vinz picks up the mirror from behind
and it's like-,
and he's like, 'Mate, I'm not seeing anything.'
It's such a bad haircut, it's really bad.
I mean, you can't get around that fact.
Yeah, the shaved head is not that bad.
I think it's the patchiness, like, the chunks missing from his hair.
He's like, 'Nah, they all have it like this in New York.'
Exactly, it's like, no.
Oh yeah, I love how he's like, 'Yeah, nothing's gone wrong.'
It's like, it's really bad, and then he's like, 'No, it's fine.'
You know, it's, yeah, it's just like-,
I think, from a lockdown point of view,
a lot of people must relate to that scene.
I'm sure that's happened in many people's bathrooms.
What about you, what was your favourite scene?
I love the art gallery scene
where they are in Paris and it's kind of like,
because they've just got nothing to do all the time,
so when they're just wandering about
and they find things to do on the way,
yeah, when they go to this art gallery and it's just like,
when they're trying to look at this weird modern art and it's just,
what is it? What is it? I just think that's really funny.
The light-hearted scenes are the ones
that do stick out to me as well, in a way.
Who was your favourite character? Was it Saïd?
No, I liked him, I do like him.
It's got to be, I'm sorry if I pronounce this wrong, but Hubert.
- Oh, me too.
Yeah, he's such a nice guy, and I think it's-,
obviously he's the one that gets in trouble, kind of,
or holds the gun up to that police-, sorry, spoiler alert,
holds the gun up to that policeman's head, you know what I mean?
So he's the one that would maybe-, because obviously we don't know
because they stop the film before you find out who shoots.
- You want to do in a pig? - I'd get respect at least.
- Killing a pig will get you respect? - At least we'd be even.
- I could have got you a rod. - This one is special.
You're on a mission?
I found this gun, that's all. Get off my back.
- Will it help Abdel? - It'll help us.
(kisses teeth)
- You're such a [___]. - You're losing the plot.
I'll do what I must.
- I don't want trouble. - Don't ask questions then.
My favourite character is Hubert
because he is calm, he's the peacemaker.
He's trying to keep the conflict low and minimise the losses,
but you can totally tell-, the acting's really great,
you can totally tell something's boiling under the surface,
and so it does almost make sense at the end
that he is the one to pull out the gun, yeah.
What was the most underrated performance, who do you think?
I chose when the director appears as the skinhead
who almost gets shot at the end, Mathieu Kassovitz.
- That's what I chose as well! - Oh really?
Yeah, well, I think it's underrated
because you just assume he's another actor.
- Literally, though. - He's a natural.
I was doing some research and I didn't realise
that Mathieu Kassovitz is the boy from Amélie.
That really blew my mind, that really blew my mind,
because he's actually a really big actor as well as the director.
I have to be honest, I've never seen Amélie.
(gasps) I thought they would have shown you that in school.
No, no, they've not.
I saw other films with Audrey Tautou but not Amélie,
but it's on my French watch list.
- (laughter) - Yeah, definitely watch it.
What about you, then? Got any fun facts?
Well, I did-,
I noticed that all of the-, especially the main actors,
their names are the same as the characters' names,
which I thought was an interesting detail.
And also, I'm pretty sure the film was filmed in colour
and actually changed to black and white
in post production after filming, which I don't know
whether it's because the colour really didn't look good
or whether they just-,
I think Mathieu Kassovitz, the director,
changed it all to black and white himself,
but I think it's so integral to the style of it
that it's black and white now.
It's a really key part. - Definitely.
So, does it hold up?
Do you view it differently since you first saw it?
I think it definitely holds up,
especially right now with Black Lives Matter
and everyone really, kind of, criticising policy brutality
and examining the role of the police closely,
which is obviously such a key part of this film
in terms of the frustration against police,
the misconduct of the police, and yeah,
it's definitely going through your head when you're watching it
that this isn't just for cinema,
but the police are actually like this in real life.
And obviously in this film, race is definitely an issue,
but the police violence feels a bit less race-orientated,
but it's definitely still something going on in your head.
Definitely.
Yeah, do you agree?
Yeah, completely agree, and what I found interesting is
there is that scene where two of the characters
get taken in by the police or whatever,
and I don't know, it does make you think,
because the Vinz guy gets away,
obviously because they say, 'I don't know him,'
but if how the police act towards those two characters,
who are people of colour, - That's so true.
and it does make you think, is that a big factor?
Because obviously those policemen, from the looks of it,
would have done that to anybody, which is horrific,
but the race thing is obviously a massive factor for them.
No, for me, it definitely holds up.
I mean, the fact that, in a sad way,
all of the issues that they talk about are still happening,
I find that really upsetting, to be honest.
It's just like, that was 25 years ago,
so surely people would have realised that it's not okay
and been able to do something about it, but it's just-,
hopefully it will change, but also, it's such an iconic film.
I don't know if you've seen Divines,
which is kind of like the same setting, like a banlieue,
but with a girl as the main character.
It's a really good film, and also Girlhood, if you've seen it.
That's Céline Sciamma, isn't it? I'd really like to see that.
Yeah, and it was really, really good,
but those films wouldn't have got such a good reception
if this hadn't got such a good response.
Also, I'm pretty sure Trainspotting came out
at a similar time to La Haine,
which obviously is a very popular film
and explores similar issues of killing time.
I do get annoyed that more people don't watch it,
do you know what I mean, because I learnt so much.
You have to grow up and be able to empathise with the characters,
so I just think so many more people should watch it.
Hopefully its new release will get to more audiences, especially now.
It had such a good reception in France
and all over the world internationally when it came out,
but obviously that was 25 years ago.
Yeah, time for the new generation to watch it.
Exactly, exactly.
♪ You're the reason it will last forever ♪
♪ When you know that you're... ♪