Customer Reviews
Don't buy or rent this film..... - By: Mr. R. Dunn, 05 Jun 2008 
Its rubbish. I persevered with up to half way, but could not take any more. Nothing happened & you simply do not care about the cliche characters. Do yourself a big favour & give this total bore a miss.
Materpiece - By: The 12th Monkey, 12 Feb 2008 
i came across this movie through hip hop circles as the soundtrack & the movie iteself features some excellent music & dj's. I dont understand a word of french & watched this a couple of timesin order the really get the most out of it. Its a typical view of inner city life as viewed from the point of three friends. & essentially could be translocated to most inner cities, however the french language being as beautiful sounding as it is really adds to this film. The interactions & exploits of the main charecters is as lively as you would expect from teenages friends & at time is extremely funny & fast paced. The 'so far so good' opening sequence really installs an inevitability factor to the movie which is realisedin the very last scene of the movie itself & as such this isn't about what happens but more about the journey the three friends take getting there. Definately & enjoyable film to watch.
Emperor's Clothes - By: M. Craven, 06 Aug 2007 
I thought this film was incredibly over rated - there was no structure to it & the main characters were stereotyped to the point where it almost became predictable. There is a trend now that if you have filmed something poor then it will be released as b/w to give it an 'arty' look. Like the Blair Witch Project, this is another film where people like to say they enjoyed it to be thought of as intellectual. Really though it is quite dull
stunning cinematography...... - By: Daniel Alpin, 12 Mar 2007 .....i saw this film when it first came out on VHS as my flatmate was studying french at the time & he brought it home one day. All of the above reviews highlighting the social commentary aspect of the film ring true, however the most striking thing about it is the breathtaking cinematography. I do not really know an awful lot about this field but some of the camera-work is baffling, there is a shot of a dj at his decks at the windowin a block of flats, the camera comes from over his shoulder out of the window & out into the courtyard of the flats about fifty feetin the air. Another shot is one where the three main protagonists are standing on a balcony & the shot is like the onein jaws where schneider see's the shark for the first time, except it seems to keep going for ages, it blew my mind when i first saw it.
Its worth mentioning that the sound track is unreal as well zapp's 'more bounce to the ounce' is one of my personal favorites.
Brilliantly acted, intelligent, a total delight, MUCH more than just "thuggish hoodies" - By: J. Hackney, 10 Oct 2006 Had to respond to another reviewer's assessment. Basically although the film may be gritty, hard-hitting, controversial, a shocking indictment of XYZ, yadayada, most reviews are not mentioning that it is alsoin parts just really breathtakingly funny. The constant back-and-forth & all-talking-at-once dialogue between the three main characters, which was mostly improvised between actors who knew each other well already from other projects, is razor-sharp, witty, nuanced, playful & just really cool, is full of FABULOUS convoluted ways to mortally insult people, which is always useful, & is often just cutting, skillful wordplay like good, fast narrative rap. This gets overlooked 'cos La Haine has been crippled by THE most hideously botched subtitling job EVER, where some bunch of clownsin an ad agencyin Ohio with five words of French between them & a bunch of Cypress Hill records took ten minutes to throw together a cod South-Central "gangsta" script that is inarticulate, dull, clumsy & repetitive & completely misses the intelligence & wit of the dialogue by a mile. They also bodged every single reference to French culture & politics, whether 'cos they didn't get it or 'cos they thought the audience wouldn't I don't know, but thisin particular was a real disservice to what the film was saying about the specific situationin France at the time. Just one example, where Said says to Vince at one point something like "what are you, a cross between Moses & Bernard Tapie", (Tapie being a minor corrupt politician & tabloid-fodder controversial wheeler-dealer manager of Marseille FC) this is shown as as "between Moses & Mickey Mouse" - who? Whats the excuse there then? Like there's no US/UK equivalent they could have used? Ross Perot? Neil Hamilton? Ron Atkinson? I have watched La Haine way too many times, as you can tell, & although I still find the written text a necessary basic prop to keep up with this way non-standard backslangy fast idiom, every time I watch it I understand a bit more of the nuances & realise just how much the subtitles have missed. Absolute bleeding traversty. Kassovitz should so get Mike Skinner & Mos Def together to redo the translation for the 20th anniversary edition (Matthieu! Get your people to phone my people! Later daaahling, MWAH!)- the reception of the film would be TOTALLY different, & much more what it deserves. On another point the really close interdependence & affection between the main characters is dead sweet, to use a technical term, makes a lovely positive counterpoint to the violence of the events of the film, & makes what happens even more powerful & moving. Also if you enjoyed the film do yourself a favour & watch Metisse too & also check out the first three Assassin albums. My two centimes.
