Characters Flashcards
Who plays Saïd?
Saïd Taghmaoui
What does ‘Beur’ mean?
Verlan for ‘arabe’/ arab
Who plays Vinz?
Vincent Cassel
Who plays Hubert?
Hubert Koundé
What is the name of the ‘local sympathetic policeman’ who tries to helps the trio?
Samir
What is the name of the local policeman that shoots Vinz?
‘Notre Dame’
How are the trio often described?
Black Blanc Beur
What is the name of the young Beur injured by a policeman at the beginning of the film?
Abdel Ichaha
Who does Vinz imitate in the mirror scene?
Travis Bickle (Robert de Niro) from Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’
Translate and cite:
‘The trio of young men are part heroes, part villains, all at once social victims, attractive and sympathetic survivors and ‘little jerks’’
Le trio des hommes jeunes sont à la fois les héros et les méchants, à la fois les victimes sociales, attirants et survivants compatissants et les petit imbéciles.
Vincendeau, Ginette, La Haine French Film Guide, New York, 2005
What affect does the use of the actors real names create? (according to Vincendeau)?
This, as well as the naturalistic performance of the three actors, ‘contributes to the film’s aura of authenticity’
How does Vincendeau summarise the three characters?
Vinz: l’aggressif
Saïd: le blagueur
Hubert: le sage
What arguably makes Vinz the most attractive character for viewers?
- -most experienced actor
- -white actor
- -most ‘full-fledged character’, dream sequences, hallucinations, insight into family life
What suggests Vinz aggressive personality?
- -initial shot, knuckle duster (coup de poing américain)
- -sharp face, shaven face
- -spitting, grimacing, grinding teeth
- -‘his speech is a mixture of aggression and inarticulacy, suggesting suppressed hatred about to erupt: his occasional stutter makes words even more explosive when they emerge.’ (Vincendeau)
- -attire an ‘updated version of the 1950’s blousons noirs delinquents’ look’ black sports clothes
–however his grace of movement, perhaps linked to his dancing background, does conflict with this aggression and the image of Vinz as a common macho thug.
What does Carrie Tarr think about the omission of Saïd’s family in the film?
That it ‘erases Maghrebi culture’
Gift of the gab
Tchatche
How does Saïd mock the Parisiennes in the art gallery?
He mocks their use of intonation, a common banlieursard response, defensively parodying learned French as ‘both bourgeois and effeminate’ (Begag, ‘L’enfermement linguisitique)
Translate:
‘In this respect, one function of his (Said) character is to show the language as the- ultimately ineffectual- weapon of the dispossessed’
Dans ce regard, l’un des fonctions de son personnage c’est pour montrer le langage comme le –en fin de compte inefficace—outil des défavorisés
Translate:
‘Everything about Hubert celebrates his blackness’
Tout d’Hubert glorifie sa noirceur
What signifies Hubert’s ‘noirceur’?
- -hair plaited in an Afro-American style
- -posters of iconic black athletes: Muhammed Ali
What film does the slow-mo boxing sequence reference?
Raging Bull
The credits sequence
What does the torn (déchiré) poster of Hubert represent?
It could mirror the destruction of his gym and be an attack on his ambitions. The attack on the gym seems to represent the impossibility of escaping the cités or of improving them.
What does Carrie Tarr argue La Haine does in terms of ideas concerning race?
Carrie Tarr argues that La Haine, despite its intentions, in fact reinforces a racist agenda, as it puts its white character first and marginalizes its beur character.
What evidence is there of Carrie Tarr’s suggestion that Vinz, the white protagonist, is portrayed as the most important character?
–Although Vinz is not in significantly more shots (plans) than Said, he is the subject of many more close-ups (gros plans).
–As the wielder of the gun, he is arguably more central to the plotline and the public campaign for the film.
–More insight into Vinz’s home life
How does the ending arguably reinforce racial stereotypes?
–Although it justifies banlieue violence, it also arguably reinforces certain stereotypes:
Vinz (white) is the victim
Said (beur) is the impotent witness
Hubert (black) is linked to drug trafficking and the perpetrator (auteur/ responsable) of violence
How is the film ‘confused’ in terms of race? What could explain this?
The film is full of racial paradoxes: --La Haine exposes racism, especially on the part of white characters, yet privileges its white leading character, as is created by a white middle class director.
–The film worships aspects of blackness (looks, music) as portrays Hubert as the most dignified of the trio, yet also aligns him with drug trafficking and murder (potentially).
–The film higlights anti-beur racism, yet one of the policeman that torture Said and Hubert is a beur, and Said as a character is the most marginalised.
While some argue that the film is ‘politically naive’ others argue that this ‘confusion’ derives from the complexity of the real life situation. Whilst France is becoming more and more ethnically diverse, it is also paradoxically becoming more and more racist.
Knuckle duster
coup de poing américain
Spit
Cracher: to spit
Crachat: spit
To grind one’s teeth
Grincer des dents
Attire
Tenue
vêtements, habits
Inarticulacy
Problème d’élocution
his speech is a mixture of aggression and inarticulacy, suggesting suppressed hatred about to erupt
Ses paroles sont un mélange d’agression et des problèmes d’élocution, ce qui suggère la haine réprimé sur le point d’éclater
stutter
bégaiement
thug
voyou
brute
malfrat
involvement with drug trafficking
implication avec trafic de stupéfiants
in slow motion
au ralenti
muddled, confused
embrouillé
