2025 marks 30 years since Mathieu Kassovitz’s legendary La Haine hit theatres
…and it remains as relevant, visually striking, and gut-wrenching as ever.
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Le monde est à nous
The story of La Haine is directly inspired by the death of Makomé M’Bowole, who in 1993 was tragically shot dead by a police officer whilst in custody in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.
An event that led Kassovitz to halt production on his film Assassin(s) in order to immediately begin writing the movie that would become La Haine.
The result was a tale of a single day in the lives of three young, ethnic minority Frenchmen living in the outskirts of Paris, waiting for news of their friend’s condition after he was seriously injured at the hands of the police — an assault that sparked riots across the suburbs and affected each of the boys in profoundly different ways.
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The trio represent not just the differing experiences within society for those considered outsiders*, but also the broader population of the suburbs known in France as *banlieues.
These suburbs, usually on the outskirts of the city, are typically associated with lower-income, often immigrant families, and the estates carry connotations of high unemployment and crime rates.
The three leads — an Arab, a Jew, and a Black man — embody each of the major minority groups with a distinct history of migration and discrimination in France.
This was an intentional choice by Kassovitz to create a microcosm of the estates where these communities often coexist.
> “These kids, even if they’re from different backgrounds, they are in the same environment, and they’re living together, and they know how to live together. It’s not just one group suffering.” — Mathieu Kassovitz
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The film’s heavy subject matter remains as, unfortunately, painstakingly relevant now as it was in the wake of M’Bowole’s murder 32 years ago.
Stories of police violence against marginalised individuals have continued since the film’s release, with the fatal shooting of Nahel Mezrouk in 2023 occurring in the very same Paris suburb of Nanterre where Makomé M’Bowole was killed 30 years earlier.
France is, of course, just one of many parts of the world affected by police brutality, with the case of George Floyd in 2020 being the most notable of our time.
Floyd’s murder — sparking protests across the globe — reminded us of just how little progress has been made since the release of La Haine.
It’s a film that transcends language and time — something that, even thirty years on, resonates in countries where audiences may not understand a single word without subtitles.
This highlights the power of cinema’s universal language, with La Haine standing as one of its greatest interpreters.
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La Haine, though, holds up in more ways than one.
Not only do its themes of violence, masculinity, and marginalisation speak as much about 2025 as they did in 1995, but the film’s distinct visual style both sets it apart from almost any present-day production whilst simultaneously not looking out of place among modern films.
For all intents and purposes, La Haine looks as though it could have been shot at any time since its release — a testament to the ageless and perpetually relevant nature of the story, as well as Kassovitz’s progressive filmmaking choices.
Kassovitz’s decision to convert the originally coloured picture to black and white in post-production is one of the main reasons the film feels so timeless.
The lack of colour strips away any sense of era, making it feasible to place in any moment in time. It also puts everyone in the story on the same visual playing field — making them “equal” in a film about a system that fundamentally disagrees.
It reduces the characters to what they are at their core: human beings divided not by the colour of their skin but by an outdated system that continues to fail them.
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As strange as it may sound, La Haine is a movie we can only hope dwindles in relevance as the years go by.
Not because of any datedness in its filmmaking, but because of the hope that its story might one day no longer reflect the reality of our current world.
To get to a place where we can admire the movie for its timeless visuals, masterful direction, and powerful performances — while understanding its relevance to its time — without it feeling painfully close to home.
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For now, though, La Haine remains a reference point for how long the world has allowed a faulty system to unjustly take the lives of those undeserving.
A timeless picture — one of the very best and most important films ever made — that, even thirty years on, stands out as a masterpiece in a medium spanning more than a century.