French cult film 'La Haine' returns as hip-hop musical with tensions persisting in poor suburbs

Watching “La Haine” nearly 30 years ago, there was a sense of something inexorable about violence in the French suburbs.

French director Mathieu Kassovitz’s critically acclaimed black-and-white film opens with video images of news footage of urban riots. The film then follows three friends — Hubert, Vinz and Saïd — over the course of 24 hours in a world of police brutality. It ends with the killing of one of the young men by a police officer.

A confrontation ensues, followed by a voice-over: ‘‘It’s about a society in free fall." A gunshot is heard, leaving little doubt as to the dramatic outcome, with more blood spilled.

The film served as a revelation about the grim reality of life in what the French call the “banlieue” — the deprived suburbs with housing projects — and took the 1995 Cannes Film Festival by storm. Kassovitz won the best director award, and “La Haine” achieved cult status in France and around the world.

Nearly three decades later, it’s still hailed as the reference film on housing projects in crisis. Kassovitz and theater director Serge Denoncourt are giving it new life, turning it into a stage musical that opens in October.

The title remains the same — “La Haine,” which translates as “hate,” but adds a subtitle: “So far, nothing has changed.”

“Two days after we announced the show (last year), we were very hyped,” Kassovitz said. ”We were very happy to say: ’OK, we’re going to officially announce it and it’s going to be a beautiful show and it’s going to be a beautiful party and everything. Two days later, we saw the video of Nahel, you know, the kid who got shot by policemen.”

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

“Yes, we know why we are doing this,” Kassovitz said. “It’s for him. It’s for all the victims that suffered that kind of violence after so many years.”

Despite shooting “La Haine” in black and white, Kassovitz tries to avoid overly simplistic conclusions about the roots of violence.

“We are trying to solve the questions that the movie raised,” he said. "We cannot point fingers all the time. Maybe now it’s time to have solutions. And we think that the solution is love. So, that’s what the show is. It's how to stop hating and start loving.”

To find the trio of actors who would carry this message of love through the musical, Kassovitz and his team traveled across France for months. The director believes that Aliyou Diop, Samy Belkessa and Alexander Ferrario are the right choices to recreate the chemistry from the film.

For all its darkness, the movie already had a dose of good feeling. It's filled with dozens of funny punch lines and jokes that only reinforce the bond and love between the three main protagonists as they venture into the heart of Paris.

“There’s a lot of love in the 'hood, too” said Diop, who comes from a working-class neighborhood in the port city of Le Havre. “Otherwise we’d all be shooting at each other. In the movie you see three buddies living in a complicated context, and you forget the context as you watch the film. They manage to make us forget that. That’s why I like them so much. They laugh, they laugh in their misery.”

When Kassovitz made his film, French suburban culture was still largely underground. The local rap music scene had already emerged, but the local mainstream media tended to portray the youth from the housing projects in an unflattering and largely fear-based light.

Kassovitz said that he's pleased that some of the stereotypes have been broken and that suburban youth are now getting a chance to make their way to the top of the charts, like French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura, who sang at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

For Kassovitz, the difference between the film and the show is that there is no need to warn people that this is about kids from the projects. "Thirty years ago nobody knew them, so we had to make a movie to introduce them to the French culture,” he said.