By Benjamin Mendez
“Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good… so far so good… so far so good. How you fall doesn’t matter. It’s how you land!”
If La Haine were a religion, it would be the fire and brimstone reality: the kind that doesn’t deal in salvation but in cold unflinching truths. It is The French film (capital T). If you’re an admirer of international cinema or a committed francophile, the chances are you’ve heard its name. A raw portrayal of the activities of three disenfranchised Parisian men – Vinz, Saïd and Hubert – the film simmers in themes of anger, violence and loathing.
Through a Buddhist lens, the film takes on an even deeper resonance. One of Karmic significance, etched into the very walls of the Parisian suburbs. First, consider the bleak black and white colour grading – an intentional choice, one that would leave viewers with questions as to why it was undertaken. The absence of colour strips the film of distractions; it makes both the film and the message it conveys feel timeless. Like the Buddhist concept of Samsara, the struggles of the banlieue aren’t just a moment in history, they are cyclical and repeating. As we follow the lives of the three protagonists, it is clear that their experiences are bound to be repeated eternally.
The camera work, excellently done by Pierre Aïm, re-affirms this idea. The slow, controlled tracking shots act out as if observing the film with a sense of detachment that mirrors Buddhist observation. The film doesn’t run towards its destination. It instead meanders slowly, leaving the viewer to question everything they’re watching. There is a sense of karmic inevitability as the film subtly drags our characters towards their deaths.
This idea of “Karma” has become so common that it would be easy to assume it as part of the English lexicon. In its true Buddhist form, the philosophy aims to explore the cause and effect that surround our everyday lives. It’s a rigorous system – a cosmic chain reaction where deeds, good or bad, come right back at you. La Haine is rife with the theme, most notably through Vinz and the repeated image of the ever present, ominous gun.
Vinz represents the inherent violence found in the forgotten parts of Paris. His constant obsession to kill a police officer exhibits the restless anger of an individual left behind by society. The gun, found by Vinz, becomes a symbol of contention throughout the film. He parades it like an amulet of power, convinced that it will give him the control he desperately seeks “with this, I feel like a real tough guy”. Vinz believes it bestows upon him respect and masculinity, something he is denied by the crushing weight of French society. It gives him the illusion that through violence comes control. His fantasies of killing a police officer, his casual threats, his violent posture reinforce these ideas deep within the audience. In the final scene, it is all but confirmed that Vinz will act on his anger and kill. Yet in his final moments, Vinz reconsiders the cycle of violence he perpetuates, and he spares a police officer. Alas, his karmic retribution is already set in motion. When he tries to break free from the cyclical Buddhist universe, he is killed. His obsession with violence attracts it back to him. The chain reaction commits its final act.
Vinz and Saïd’s characters also explore Buddhists concepts of Annatta or self, specifically the idea of a lack of self. Vinz constructs himself around violence and anger, emblematic in his idealisation of Tony Montana. Yet his final scene reveals his true self: he is not a killer. His entire sense of self is not real – it is hollow, a construct. In a different vein, Saïd’s sense of self is imposed externally: the racial prejudices of French society create both his external and internal image. His name alone indicates how he will be treated. Both characters ultimately highlight the Buddhist notion that the self is not a fixed notion, but a fragile construct imposed upon the receiver.
Unlike Vinz, who is trapped by his own self-gratifying violent attitudes, Hubert makes his own attempt to escape the tragic samsaric cycle, though it ends in tragedy. His aspirations to run his own athletic club are stripped away as the building burns down, in an event that symbolizes how external forces pull the individual back into suffering. Try as he might to avoid the ills of the material world, without true enlightenment he is pulled back into it. At the end of the film, he finds himself caught in the same cycle of violence and retribution. His death affirms the cyclical message at the heart of the film. It is proof the wheel keeps turning, no matter who tries to step off.
In La Haine, there is no neat redemption arc, no Hollywood ending. There is only how you fall, and the landing.