In this topic, we have studied La Haine, a french film from 1995 directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. This film uses many different technical codes, one of which is the mise-en-scene. In La Haine, the mise-en-scene is very significant towards the message that is conveyed in the film. An example of this is when each of the protagonists are introduced, such as when Said is first introduced, he graffiti's on a police van the phrase 'Said fucks the police', which he writes in Arabic. This clearly represents his own personal identity, because he writes his own name and in his own language. This technique is also used when Vinz is introduced, there is a close-up of his ring with his name on like the rappers in the USA, showing how Vinz has been influenced by western culture, which is also shown in his room, or 'Chez Vinz' when we see the cannabis poster with the name of the Cypress Hill song "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That" on, his collection of western trainers and the picture of Bruce Li on his door. Also, when Hubert is introduced in his burnt down gym, there is a close-up of a match poster containing his name and a picture of him. In the picture, Hubert is holding rosary beads, which implies that he is spiritualistic and that he is clean cut, unlike the other youths presented in the film. The impact of each character having their names clearly shown on-screen implies how desperate each of them is to develop their own identity as opposed to just being one of the foreigners that live in the projects.
Another part of the mise-en-scene is the constant motif of planet earth. This is first used directly at the start of the film, where we see the earth and hear Hubert's voice talking about jumping off a building and with each floor you pass you say 'so far so good' (Jusqu'ici tout va bien) which is the film's tagline, and then 'its not the fall that kills you, its the landing' and when this line is said, a molotov coctail is thrown at the earth. This is basically saying that the world will burn through the hatred that is spreading across the globe. The earth is also used towards the end of the film when they walk past a billboard that says 'le monde est a vous' (the world is yours) and Said graffitis on the billboard to change it to 'The World Is Ours', which adds a sense of unity to the film, which is the whole moral that the character of Said stands for, Fraternity. The use of the planet is significant of the narrative of the film, which is circular, as they start off in les banlieues (the projects), then catch the train to Paris, and at the premise of the film they arrive back in les banlieues. Les Banlieues are housing projects on the outskirts of paris with a population of roughly 10,000 made up of over 60 different nationalities. These projects were built in order to try and incorporate and 'assimilate' different cultures into Parisian life, although in fact they caused the adverse affect because the media stereotyped the projects as areas of urban deprivation, crime and drug use.
Another technique that is also used to signify the same message of the earth is the 360 degree pan shot. This shot is used in the 'Chez Vinz' scene to establish some background knowledge of Vinz's character. This type of shot, coupled with the motif of the earth and the film's circular narrative are all significant of the moral that the earth is in a constant loop, and that no matter what happens it will keep spinning. This shows that all of our lives are worthless because we have no real impact on the way that the world works, but also the fact that no matter how hard those in poverty try to change their lives and make themselves better off, they will be forever stuck in a never-ending cycle and will not be able to pull themselves away from their poor and miserable lives.
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