French cult movie ‘La Haine’ returns as hip-hop musical with tensions persisting in poor suburbs

Watching “La Haine” almost 30 years in the past, there was a way of one thing inexorable about violence within the French suburbs.

French director Mathieu Kassovitz’s critically acclaimed black-and-white movie opens with video photos of stories footage of city riots. The movie then follows three associates — Hubert, Vinz and Saïd — over the course of 24 hours in a world of police brutality. It ends with the killing of one of many younger males by a police officer.

A confrontation ensues, adopted by a voice-over: ‘‘It’s a couple of society in free fall.” A gunshot is heard, leaving little doubt as to the dramatic end result, with extra blood spilled.

The movie served as a revelation concerning the grim actuality of life in what the French name the “banlieue” — the disadvantaged suburbs with housing tasks — and took the 1995 Cannes Movie Pageant by storm. Kassovitz gained the most effective director award, and “La Haine” achieved cult standing in France and world wide.

Almost three a long time later, it’s nonetheless hailed because the reference movie on housing tasks in disaster. Kassovitz and theater director Serge Denoncourt are giving it new life, turning it right into a stage musical that opens in October.

The title stays the identical — “La Haine,” which interprets as “hate,” however provides a subtitle: “Up to now, nothing has modified.”

“Two days after we introduced the present (final 12 months), we had been very hyped,” Kassovitz mentioned. ”We had been very completely satisfied to say: ’OK, we’re going to formally announce it and it’s going to be an exquisite present and it’s going to be an exquisite get together and all the things. Two days later, we noticed the video of Nahel, you understand, the child who acquired shot by policemen.”

Kassovitz was referring to Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old supply driver who was fatally shot by a police officer in June 2023, sparking riots throughout the nation and unleashing anger over police violence, poverty and discrimination in opposition to individuals with immigrant backgrounds. Merzouk was of North African origin.

“Sure, we all know why we’re doing this,” Kassovitz mentioned. “It’s for him. It’s for all of the victims that suffered that sort of violence after so a few years.”

Regardless of taking pictures “La Haine” in black and white, Kassovitz tries to keep away from overly simplistic conclusions concerning the roots of violence.

“We are attempting to unravel the questions that the film raised,” he mentioned. “We can not level fingers on a regular basis. Possibly now it’s time to have options. And we predict that the answer is love. So, that’s what the present is. It is tips on how to cease hating and begin loving.”

To seek out the trio of actors who would carry this message of affection by way of the musical, Kassovitz and his crew traveled throughout France for months. The director believes that Aliyou Diop, Samy Belkessa and Alexander Ferrario are the precise selections to recreate the chemistry from the movie.

For all its darkness, the film already had a dose of excellent feeling. It is stuffed with dozens of humorous punch strains and jokes that solely reinforce the bond and love between the three primary protagonists as they enterprise into the center of Paris.

“There’s lots of love within the hood, too” mentioned Diop, who comes from a working-class neighborhood within the port metropolis of Le Havre. “In any other case we’d all be taking pictures at one another. Within the film you see three buddies dwelling in an advanced context, and also you neglect the context as you watch the movie. They handle to make us neglect that. That’s why I like them a lot. They giggle, they giggle of their distress.”

When Kassovitz made his movie, French suburban tradition was nonetheless largely underground. The native rap music scene had already emerged, however the native mainstream media tended to painting the youth from the housing tasks in an unflattering and largely fear-based gentle.

Kassovitz mentioned that he is happy that a number of the stereotypes have been damaged and that suburban youth are actually getting an opportunity to make their technique to the highest of the charts, like French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura, who sang at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

For Kassovitz, the distinction between the movie and the present is that there is no such thing as a have to warn folks that that is about children from the tasks. “Thirty years in the past no person knew them, so we needed to make a film to introduce them to the French tradition,” he mentioned.

Diop, who performs Hubert within the musical and can also be a rap artist, impressed the casting crew together with his stage presence. A necessary asset in a musical present that mixes dance, cinema, rap, theater and dwell efficiency, which Denoncourt hopes might be groundbreaking.

“We’re attempting to place issues collectively in an inventive manner, however not too, too cute. We just like the uncooked materials that now we have with the breakdancing, with the rap,” he mentioned. “The present is fairly uncooked.”