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La haine



Mathieu Kassovitz took the film world by storm with La haine, a gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically the low-income banlieue districts on Paris's outskirts. Aimlessly passing their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Hubert (Hubert Koundé), and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui)—Jewish, African, and Arab, respectively—give human faces to France's immigrant populations, their bristling resentment at their marginalization slowly simmering until it reaches a climactic boiling point. A work of tough beauty, La haine is a landmark of 1990s French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country's ongoing identity crisis.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 4K digital master, supervised by director of photography Pierre Aïm and approved by director Mathieu Kassovitz, with 2.0 and 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks
• One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Audio commentary by Kassovitz
• Introduction by actor Jodie Foster
• Ten Years of "La haine," a documentary featuring cast and crew members
• Featurette on the film's banlieue setting
• Production footage
• Deleted and extended scenes, with an afterword by Kassovitz
• Behind-the-scenes photos
• Trailers
• PLUS: An essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau and a 2006 appreciation by filmmaker Costa-Gavras

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...aaaaaaand Amazon UK just shipped the copy of this I ordered for the library.

But this must mean that they're able to license from the Polygram films library somehow. Or more likely, Polygram's distribution rights expired and Criterion scooped them up from Studio Canal.

Somewhat of a crow-trodden choice...

[-(

I can die happy now.

Of all of the films I've ever wished were available in region 1, this is the one I've wanted the most. I can't wait to see what we get with this.

I'm very happy to see Criterion release this film. Wonder how much they'll pull over from the already wonderful Studio Canal three disc set.

The HD-DVD (which is region free, remember) looks amazing. Unless we get a Cassel commentary or a 2 disc extravaganza, I won't be picking this up.

Looks like criterion finally listened to my persistent (some would say disturbed) suggestions that they get La Haine.

This, right after I had a friend burn the R2 dvd onto a bootleg for me. I was seriously hoping criterion would get the rights to this one, and I'm thrilled. La Haine is a great movie.

I was inches away from ordering the R2, this makes me very happy!

holy hell...
La haine. wow.

why wouldn't you ask for a Kassovitz commentary over Cassel?

great pick, though!

I've heard of this, but never knew anything about it. I gather, from what little I've read on the net since the announcement of this that it's somewhat "prophetic" in relation to the French riots of the past year or so? Without giving too much away...any commentary about this movie?

Tribe

Tribe wrote:I've heard of this, but never knew anything about it. I gather, from what little I've read on the net since the announcement of this that it's somewhat "prophetic" in relation to the French riots of the past year or so? Without giving too much away...any commentary about this movie?

Yes. The film is set the day after riots in the banlieux, the suburbs primarily populated by minorities. There's a great deal of simmering resentment toward cops, which leads to violence more than once in the film.

As I understand it, then-President Francois Mitterand showed this film to his Cabinet and said "Unless we do something, this will happen for real." It took almost ten years, but he was right.

my understanding was that this was happening already, or probably intensely felt, by the Paris suburbs at the time (or for any lower-class suburbs in the world). that's how i saw it, anyway. nothing prophetic about it à-la-Banlieue (which i also loved), just a reflection of the times by a young filmmakers.

OK. I wish Criterion would announce Kassovitz's other masterpiece next.

Impressive extras...with a Jodie Foster introduction and a Costa-Gavras essay! Got to worth the $39.95 price.

That sounds once again excellent!
I already own the UK 3 disc set, so it`s needs to be something really special if I wanna be picking this one up

I prefer the cover art of the UK release, but that's a *very* impressive edition criterion is putting together. This is a must-buy for me.

I have to say that I'm a little heartbroken that this isn't a multi-disc set, but I'm thrilled to have it at all, and the extras sound great. Obviously I'm used to seeing the cover with the eyes, but I really dig the cover Criterion put together. I can't wait.

I might trade for it, but I won't be buying this at release date.

wait, so what does Jodie Foster have to do with this film?

She speaks French.

tavernier wrote:She speaks French.

well so do a lot of people. wouldn`t it make more sense to have an introduction by the one of the crew members?

I believe she's the rights holder, if I'm not mistaken

arsonfilms wrote:I believe she's the rights holder, if I'm not mistaken

ow ok, in that case it does make sense

Foster was impressed by the film and arranged for US distribution via her own Egg Pictures after viewing it at Cannes.

gubbelsj wrote:Foster was impressed by the film and arranged for US distribution via her own Egg Pictures after viewing it at Cannes.

...And what a steller job she's done so far. I suppose it's never too late to redeem oneself?