La Haine Exam Question

How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques? (35marks)

The film techniques throughout the film had a small impact on me for example, in several scenes the director shows the time of the day on the screen and uses non-diagetic sound of a clock ticking used as a re-occurring motif.

This had an impact because it showed how slow time was going and we saw throughout the day how very little Vinz, Said and Hubert had to do because they don't have jobs and cant get them because they are uneducated. However in the last scene this film technique has a very big impact on me because as Vinz is shot time is going even slower,so it made me feel as if i was watching the shooting in slow motion. The time is shown from at 06:00 then to 06:01 literally showing how slow time is passing at this point. this also shows that its only a matter of time before something similar happens again, for example, the riots in London and other British cities in 2011 which were caused by similar reasons and saw mainly youths rioting on the streets.

In the very first scene of La Haine the audience knows that this isn't going to be about french tradition because the director uses Reggae music - which shows different cultural values. Throughout the film the music supports this view as we see when a DJ remixes American music - KRS-One 'its the sound of da police' - with a traditional french song by Edith Piaf  'Je Ne Regrette Rien' (which is a song about regretting nothing and moving on). this particular part of the film and the music used had a big impact on me because it shows that the youth are trying to change tradition and rebel against it however some are going about it in the wrong way, for example Vinz tries to use violence and keeps attempting to use a gun he found against people. However in the end he learns that he doesn't want to rebel in this way and doesn't actually like violence.

This had a big impact on me because it shows the youths in a different light, not all of the youths want to riot and cause harm, they just want to break out of the cycle of not having a job and living in the Projects.

The biggest impact wasn't due to film techniques but the narrative in the last scene of La Haine because Vinz's death wasn't expected. Throughout the film Vinz, Said and Hubert have had a negative view because of certain actions. The media also showed them to be negative and even though there were scenes where they weren't doing anything negative they haven't done anything positive either so the audience have this underlining view of them. However in that last scene i felt sorry for Vinz because even though he had wanted to commit a crime by killing a police officer he couldn't do it. i also felt sorry for Said and Hubert because Hubert didn't want to be involved in any crime, he was the only one with a job but because of the riots he had been forced into committing crime to make a living and Said has been stuck in the middle of the conflict throughout the film.

 Said was in the middle of the conflict in the hospital scene which we could see through the framing. This had an impact because you could clearly see that Said was stuck between supporting his friends and doing the right thing. He is seen as the mediator throughout the film.

The director used real footage from riots that regularly took place between youths and police between 1986 and 1996. the use of real footage was impacting because it was real life stuff that was happening in France. I could see all of the destruction and violence going on. I also know that the death of Vinz was based on a real story that the director Mathieu Kassovitz had heard about. A young Zairian, Makome M'Bowole was shot at point blank range in 1993 while in police custody and handcuffed to a radiator.

 'In court, Compain, who was suspended from the police and held in pre–trial custody for nearly two years, said he got out his pistol to intimidate the teenager because he was shouting and had insulted him'  (AI News-1996). The link between the story of Makome M'Bowole and Vinz's story are very similar which had a big impact on me because Vinz is acting out a real life event. Its not just a fiction story, Makome M'Bowole actually died in a similar situation.

The main impact for me was the narrative in the last scene because of how realistic it was and how unexpected Vinz's death was because the audience had just started to see him in a new light because he didn't want to commit crime. The film techniques like the use of time, framing and music did have an impact but not as big as the narrative.