The French cult film “La Haine” returns as a hip-hop musical – despite ongoing tensions in poor suburbs

When I watched La Haine almost 30 years ago, I felt that the violence in the French suburbs was relentless.

French director Mathieu Kassovitz’s critically acclaimed black-and-white film begins with video footage from news footage of urban unrest. The film then follows three friends – Hubert, Vinz and Saïd – for 24 hours in a world of police brutality, ending with the murder 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 shot is heard, leaving little doubt about the dramatic outcome, and more blood flows.

A revelation about the grim reality of life in what the French call the “banlieues,” the impoverished public housing suburbs, the film took the 1995 Cannes Film Festival by storm. Kassovitz won the award for Best Director and “La Haine” achieved cult status in France and around the world.

Almost three decades later, the film is still considered a reference film about social housing in crisis. Kassovitz and theater director Serge Denoncourt are breathing new life into it and turning it into a stage musical that will premiere in October.

The title remains the same – “La Haine”, which translates to “hate”, but with a subtitle: “Nothing has changed so far.”

“Two days after we announced the show (last year), we were super excited,” Kassovitz said. “We were very happy to be able to say, ‘OK, we’re going to officially announce it and it’s going to be a great show and a great party and everything.’ Two days later, we saw the video of Nahel, you know, the boy who was shot by police officers.”

Kassovitz was referring to Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old delivery driver who was shot dead by a police officer in June 2023, sparking nationwide unrest and anger over police violence, poverty and discrimination against people of immigrant backgrounds. Merzouk was of North African descent.

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

love is all you need

Although Kassovitz shot La Haine in black and white, he tries to avoid overly simplistic conclusions about the roots of the violence.

“We’re trying to answer the questions that the film raised,” he said. “We can’t keep pointing fingers. Maybe now is the time to find solutions. And we believe the solution is love. And that’s what the show is about. It’s about how to stop hating and start loving.”

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

For all its gloom, the film also had a dose of good feelings. It’s full of dozens of funny punchlines and jokes that only strengthen the bond and love between the three main protagonists as they venture into the heart of Paris.

“There is a lot of love in the neighbourhood too,” says Diop, who comes from a working-class neighbourhood in the port city of Le Havre. “Otherwise we would all be shooting at each other. In the film, you see three friends living in a complicated environment and you forget the context while watching 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, the culture of the French suburbs was still largely underground. The local rap scene had already developed, but the local mainstream media tended to portray the youth from the social housing in an unflattering and largely fear-based light.

Kassovitz said he was happy that some of the stereotypes had been broken and that suburban youth now had a chance to top the charts, such as 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 make people aware that it is about children from the public housing. “Nobody knew them 30 years ago, so we had to make a film to introduce them to French culture,” he said.

Diop, who plays Hubert in the musical and is also a rapper, impressed the casting team with his stage presence – an indispensable asset in a musical show that combines dance, cinema, rap, theater and live performance and which Denoncourt hopes will be groundbreaking.

“We try to put things together in an artistic way, but not too cutesy. We like the raw material we have with the breakdancing and the rapping,” he said. “The show is pretty raw.”