"Hatred breeds Hatred"

The movie La Haine is a very interesting movie which portrays the lives of immigrants who were driven to the suburban area of France where one of the characters says that it is like a zoo(segregated area where they get harassed by French police and treated like animals without laws to protect them). I was able to make sconnections with American immigrants’ society and there were some similarities as in terms of segregation of immigrations. Also the movie describes many contemporary issues such as racism, ethnicity, segregation, discrimination, and gender. Although the movie does not directly describe gender, it does not count women in for taking important roles in this movie.
The movie starts with a riot getting suppressed brutally by the policemen with guns and then it proceeds to another scene with two friends Vinz and Said. Vinz and Said go to another Black friend named Hubert’s place where he boxes. However, the place seemed to be ruined due to the riots going on outside. One day, when they watch TV with broken antennas, they come across shocking news that their friend Abdel was brutalized by the police and is in the hospital. They go to the hospital to see Abdel, however, the policemen don’t let them into the room because he is in a state of comma and they get furious because of the mistreatment by the French people especially police just because they are immigrants. Vinz is a Jewish immigrant who acts very strong like a thug and he says that he will bring a revenge on the police who made Abdel, his friend to suffer. One day, he picks up a police gun and he carries it around to kill a police when a chance comes and he constantly says he sees a cow (http://moviemyles.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/cows-cops-and-subtitles/). An actual cow appears in the movie in front of Vinz and Said, but Said doesn’t see and tells Vinz insane for seeing a cow. According to the article with a link above, the cow represents a police or anarchy and in this movie the cow appears in order to show the furiousness and hate feelings that Vinz had against the police which represents the French society who actually takes an action to suppress immigrants. One day, Vinz, Hubert, and Said take a trip to Paris to meet Said’s friend but they end up getting arrested by police except Vinz who gets to run away from the police. As a result, Hubert and Said get harassed by policemen for being different races than them. Said gets harassed for being an Arab and they call him cute as a insulting way and Hubert tries to protect his little friend and brings attention to himself. In this scene, Hubert seems like a father figure to his rest of friends who is big, strong from boxing and the most mature figure because he tells his friends that the hatred breed hatred. However, he also gets harassed for being a Black and his hatred seems to get heightened. They get finally released but they miss the last train. When they go to the train station, Vinz, who got away from the police arrest alone, which seems to kind of represent that he is Jewish and White therefore, he is exempt from the harassment. Three friends get together but come across another anti-immigrant group and express their rage against one of the police. In this scene, Vinz tried to blow the policeman’s head with a gun but he does not have courage and lets him go. After the long day, they finally get back to their hometown, but hear from the television that their friend Abdel died. Furious Vinz runs to the police and illusions to kill the police with a gun but the reality was with his hand folded like a gun and pointing his finger at the police. At the last scene, Vinz gives the gun to Hubert as an acknowledgement of himself acting like a thug but in reality is not and walks away with Said. When Hubert is about to walk away in the opposite direction, he hears quarrels and runs towards his friends. Then, he witnesses the policemen triggered his gun at Vinz’ head. Hubert gets furious and the movie ends with Hubert and the policemen pointing guns at each other with a triggering sound.
This movie shows the union of immigrant friends who get suppressed and share friendship in the period of hard times. I was impressed by the mood of the movie which is depressing throughout the entire movie to send messages to viewers that these issues are not humane to be placed on others with different races. Everyone is equal and should be treated equally as long as we live together in the same society otherwise, there will be hate and hatred will breed hatred among each other.