La Haine

La Haine is a French drama film which was released in 1995. It was written and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. It stars Vincent Cassel, Huber Kounde and Saiid Taghmaoui as the lead characters. The film was shot in black and white which goes well with the story and narrative of the film.

La Haine is the story of a day in the lives of three friends after a riot, Vinz, Sayid and Hubert. They live in the banlieues of Paris. They come from different backgrounds. Vinz is a Jewish boy who wants everyone to respect him and take him seriously. Sayid is guy who just can't shut his mouth and is a trouble maker. Hubert, an Afro-French boxer is the most wisest of the three.

Their locality witnesses frequent riots and instability. The youth and the cops are very hostile towards each other. The story starts on one day after such riots. During the riots a local boy named Abdel Ichaha gets seriously injured and goes in comma with a very little hope of life. Also during the riots a policeman loses his revolver. The police department and the press take the issue of possibility of the revolver falling in the hands of the wrong person and the dangers it can cause, seriously.

Its shown that Vinz has found out the revolver and plans on shooting a cop if their friend Abdel Ichaha loses his life in the hospital. Hubert who is the most matured of the three tries to calm Vinz down but that goes in vain. Also Sayid has to travel to Paris to collect money from a guy who owes him. The three set out to go and catch a train. Vinz carries his gun with him throughout. Things don't go smooth. Cops arrest them but Vinz manages to run. The cops who have arrested them turn out to be sadistic and humiliate Sayid and Hubert, detaining them for a long time which causes them to miss the last train of that night. Vinz too misses it and meets them on station later. The friends roam around the city.

The story goes on ahead with the friends watching the news about Abdel Ichaha and Vinz thinking upon his earlier words about Abdel dying. Also they encounter a group of other guys at whom they had shouted bitter words earlier, where its upto Vinz to use his revolver and take up a life to save their own. The next morning and the end of the film is unexpected.
The film derives it's title from the words said by Hubert: "La haine attire la haine!", which means "Hatred breeds hatred."
La Haine was successful upon its release. It was recieved very well by the critics too. 

It has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  
It was also ranked as #32 in Empire States magazine list of 'The100 best movies of world cinema.' Also it received a lot of awards.

Alfred Hitchcock's 'Limited-Setting' Films

"To make a great film you need three things - the script, the script and the script."
- Alfred Hitchcock.

There are some exceptional stories along with their story tellers who can amaze you and keep you glued on them by almost nothing except their flow and execution. A fine example of this can be seen in the 'limited-setting' films of Alfred Hitchcock, the great master of thrillers and suspense.

With this films Alfred Hitchcock has clearly proved that big sets, fancy cars, heavy action, etc can be of no match to one good story. Yes, its the script that matters. Its all that is required to amaze the audience. Four of his films can be said to fall in this category - Lifeboat (1994), Rope (1948), Dial M for Murder (1954) and Rear Window (1954). All of these movies have been highly acclaimed. They have been loved by both the audiences as well as the critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives them a rating of 95 %, 97%, 83% and 100% respectively.


Lifeboat (1944), is a brilliant film. The film starts and ends on just a small lifeboat. The storyline is such that in World War II, the German U-boats have attacked and have sunken an American passenger ship. The survivors, very few of them have come aboard a small emergency lifeboat. They come from different backgrounds like one of them is an international journalist, another is a rich businessman, one radio operator, a nurse, a steward, a sailor and an engineer are present. This people have a sole aim now i.e to survive. Things go fine until they save another man from drowning, he turns out to be the German commander of the U-boat that sunk them. Some of them demand to throw him out while some assert the fact that he is now a prisoner of war and should be treated as such, thereby beginning a wave of distrust and conflict on the boat. The story then goes ahead answering the numerous questions that arise in the viewer's minds like - Who are this people? Will they survive? Are they trying enough? Whats on that German's mind? Has he got any plans? How will this people come out of this situation?


Rope (1948), is another great film. It revolves around a party taking place in an apartment in New York. Brandon and Philip, two antagonists of the film murder their friend David just because they feel they are intellectually superior to him and therefore have the right to do so. They think this the perfect murder. They even throw a party to other friends and surprisingly the guest list also includes David's father and his fiancee Janet. And another person, Rupert, their prep-school's housemaster happens to come too. Brandon and Philip have hidden David's body in a wooden chest and they use the same wooden chest as a buffet for the food. Rupert, who is actually quite close to them had discussed these theories of perfect murder with the boys in school but he had in no way meant harm for anyone and remained unaware that the boys would go this far. Now with David's absence, Rupert senses some problem, Brandon appears calm and controlled but doesn't seem normal and Philip is depressed and scared. The story goes ahead with Rupert collecting evidences and how he finds out about the murder and thus hands the boys to the authorities.


Dial M for Murder (1954), was also based in similar settings. Much of the story takes place in an apartment. Tony Wendice discovers about his wife's affair with a writer Mark Halliday. He is so angered that he plans her murder. He exceutes a brilliant plan. He picks up a man named Swann, who happens to be petty criminal and his schoolmate, to murder her. Swann is reluctant but then Tony has left no stone unturned in his plan and has collected enough evidences against Swann to make his life hell. Tony has been anonymously blackmailing her too. As planned, everything goes smooth but for a minor error in achieving a proper timing, the plan fails terribly. It is Margot, his wife who ends up killing Swann in self-defense. Tony has a plan B ready and at once comes back and shifts the evidences like the key and the letter in such a way that now it seems like Swann was blackmailing Margot and she has killed him in cold blood. The rest of the movie continues with the investigation and Mark's efforts to prove Margot innocent.

Rear Window (1954), is the story of Jeff, a reporter who has been injured and is now bound to wheelchair for a few days. Confined within his apartment he has nothing interesting to do. Eventually he takes up the habit of spying his neighbors from the rear window of his apartment. His neighbors include a fun-loving composer, a middle-aged couple with a small dog, a dancer who seems to enjoy practicing her routines while scantily clad, a newly wed couple, a woman who seems to live in a fantasy world, and a salesman and his wife. All of them seem fine until the salesman's wife disappears, which  Jeff notices. Also the salesman has started doing strange things which just increases Jeff's suspicion that the salesman has killed her. He involves his girlfriend and his nurse too in this matter and they devise a plan to catch him red handed. Where has the wife disappeared? Is Jeff right about his discovery? Who is that salesman? Is he dangerous? The movie answers all this questions well.

The Fountain

The Fountain released in 2006, is a film which mixes the elements of fantasy, history, religion, and science fiction in a love story. It was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky. The movie consists of a story in three different timelines. One in the 16th century, one in present 21st century and one in 26th century. It starred Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, both of them played different roles in three timelines.

The tree stories in each timeline are shown non linearly. Each story is divided by a gap of around 5oo years. Even the stories aren't told chronologically within their timelines but are told by frequently occurring flashbacks and other recurring visual motifs.

The main theme of the film is the fear and acceptation of mortality. The film takes us on a tour which does not guarantee a clear explanation but nonetheless its a visual treat. Arronfsky's work is very good on the themes and motifs in the story. The performances of Jackman and Weisz are brilliant.

 Jackman as Tomás, the
conquistador

The movie starts with a 16th century timeline. Tomás is shown to be fighting off horde of Mayans to gain entry into a pyramid, where he is attacked by a Mayan priest with a flaming sword. It is revealed through flashbacks that he has been sent by Queen Isabella who is losing her territory to the Inquisition. She has sent her conquistador, Tomás to find The Tree of Life for his Queen. He goes in search of it to the Central American forest in Mayan territory. The priest has some revelation about him and thinks him to be devine. He offers Tomás to kill him. After that Tomás reaches a garden with a large tree but things don't go as he had expected.

Jackman and Weisz as Tommy and Izzi

The main story or the core story of the film is of the 21st century doctor, Thomas, who is working on a cure for cancer using samples of the "Tree of Life", found through exploration in Central America. He loves his wife very much and he is deeply affected by his wife's brain tumor and is determined to find a cure soon so that he can protect her. His wife has written a book but when she realises that she won't live long enough to finish the final chapter, she gives it to Thomas to complete it. Its a story about a 16th century Queen and her conquistador, Tomás.

Jackman as Tom, the space traveller

The third timeline in the film is of the 26th century. It has only one character, Tom. Tom is a space traveler, an astronaut. He is traveling in a spaceship which is enclosed of biosphere and contains in it the Tree of Life. He is traveling to a golden Nebula of Xibalba for a certain event. Its the Nebula, Izzi had mentioned about to Tommy. That they will meet there when the star would die. Many connections are made to the 21st century story here. Like the ink tatoos made by Tommy, certain conversations. It is somehow implied that Izzi is still alive in the tree and can be brought back to life once they reach the Xibabla. Even here things don't go as planned or expected.

If you wouldn't like it, you may shut it within 10-15 minutes but if you would get into it, then it would be an amazing experience, which you may feel to repeat again and again.