La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995)

Released in 1995, La Haine is a raw, edgy drama about a mixed-race group of young men from a run-down Parisian suburb who decide to take on the police after a friend is brutally beaten. The work of a then-unknown young team (director and actors were all under 30), it became hugely and unexpectedly successful both commercially and critically, launching director Mathieu Kassovitz and lead player Vincent Cassel to stardom. The film's combination of hard-hitting social expose, stylish black and white cinematography, and hip-hop culture also turned it into an enduring cult movie with younger viewers. With style and insight, Ginette Vincendeau provides a thorough understanding of the context of the film's making, both in terms of the film industry and of French society; of the film's narrative tension, stylistic sophistication and ideological ambiguity; and of its extraordinary success nationally and internationally. She explains why, out of so many films about disaffected youth, La Haine is the one that caught the audience's imagination, becoming an instant classic.