The Legacy of Colonialism
La Haine (dir. Matthieu
Kassovitz)
La Haine: a postcolonial film?
• Race, Ethnicity and Immigration
• ‘Les banlieues’
• La Haine
Race, Ethnicity and Immigration
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Brief history of immigration
Post WWII reconstruction
North African immigrants (the Maghreb)
1946 1.74 million immigrants
1990 4.16 million immigrants
DOM-TOM
Race, Ethnicity and Immigration
• French by birth
• French by naturalization
• Foreign workers
Race, Ethnicity and Immigration
• Changing economic climate: 1970s and
1980s
• Rising unemployment rates
• Jean-Marie Le Pen’s Front National
• Loi Méhaignerie 1993
• Fear of Muslim fundamentalism
Assimilation or Cultural
Difference?
• Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
• L’affaire du foulard
• ‘If all citizens are equal, what space is there
to understand social stratification based on
gender, ethnic group or income?’
Cathy Lloyd in Modern France, ed.
Malcolm Cook
Les banlieues
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1955-1975 3 million ‘logements sociaux’
Les HLM (Habitations à Loyer Modéré)
‘Les banlieues’ and ethnic minorities
The ‘ghettos’ of France?
Sarcelles in 1990, 80 nationalities
La Haine/Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
La Haine (1995)
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Social documentary?
Characters
Plot
Allusions to other
films
• Camerawork, sound
and editing
La Haine (1995)
• Social documentary?
• ‘A kid got shot in the
18th arrondissement
and maybe 500 people
came to the
demonstration in the
street. 2 million people
came to see our
movie’ Vincent Cassel
La Haine (1995)
• Characters
La Haine (1995)
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Plot
Time
Jusqu’ici tout va bien
C17th classical drama
La Haine (1995)
• Allusions to other
films
• Taxi Driver
• Mean Streets
• Boyz N. The Hood
La Haine (1995)
• Camerawork
• Sound
• Editing