La haine (1995)

Rating: 97/100

​​"Baise la Police" is what Saïd writes on the back of a police force car and is the value that drives the French youth. This is the story of Vinz played by Vincent Cassel, Saïd played by Saïd Taghmaoui, and Hubert played by Hubert Koundé and their struggle against the discriminative French police. When a friend of theirs Abdel is shot by police, riots break out in the projects of Paris leading to destruction, fire, injuries and a police officer losing his gun. 

The group always seems to make it by in the projects, Hubert is a local drug dealer and boxer, Saïd deals on the side, and Vinz is a wannabe gangster. After a night of rioting and fighting the police Vinz runs into a cow on the loose and finds the officers missing weapon. This gives Vinz new confidence vs. the police and anyone who crosses his path, including his friends.

Throughout the film the group runs into standoffs with the police around every corner, so they learn to adapt to the police. Everyone does, except Vinz who lives in the past and won't get over his grudge vs the police. Learning to adapt is very well put when the boys are in a bathroom arguing about Vinzs gun and an old man comes out of a stall telling them about a story when he was on a train being shipped to a work camp and had to shit. 

All is going great until they are stopped by local police for a "random" pat down. Hubert and Saïd are taken into custody and Vinz gets away by out running them. Hubert and Saïd are beaten and tortured by veteran police trying to get answers out of them and also trying to teach a rookie cop how it’s done. The rookie cop watches in agony and disbelief at the way the police are treating these young men, showing there is still good out there. Vinz finds some new gangster friends who show him how it’s done when they shoot and kill a nightclub bouncer for not letting them in. This shakes his core values, and he runs off to meet up with Hubert and Saïd. They run into some dangerous Skinheads and Vinz is finally able to use his gun for good. The Skinheads run off while the guys hold and beat one at gun point, but does Vinz have what it takes to be the gangster he says he is?

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz who is also known for Amélie (2001) pulls out all the stops in this cinematography masterpiece. Kassovitz shows expert levels of continuity and camera work with his experimental ways of using the camera. He uses dolly and zoom shots to trick the audience and rearrange their POV, while also telling a story is a work of art. I also love how he ties up all of his loose ends in the film and my favorite being the cow that Vinz talks about. This movie brought art back to film by making the silver screen its canvas, a truly wonderful film with great story telling and a great message.