La
Haine
Filmed
entirely in black and white with strong hand-held work, La Haines
visual style is tenacious and daring, owing as much to the rawness
of classic cinema verite as it does to contemporary music video.
Pierre
Aims' exemplary cinematography innovates and energizes the film,
drawing the audience into the melee. Rooftop party scenes are filmed
hand-held, unbroken, the festivities jarred by the unwelcome arrival
of armed Gendarmes. Heightening the tension and sense of nailbitten
urban claustrophobia, the camera swings chaotically between protagonists
at fist level.
The audience is repeatedly drawn into intense situations, into the
midst of the occasional skirmishes that pepper the film.
The
visuals peak with the panoramic journey over the housing project
to the tune of KRS-Ones "Sound a da police" mixed with Edith
Piaf by French Deckmeister CutKiller. The camera concentrates on
CutKiller mixing at his decks in his bedroom and sails out of the
window and drifts high above children playing in the courtyard below
(how this was filmed is a perpetual mystery to me, anybody who has
any feedback on this matter: CLICK ON MAIL BELOW!).
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