‘La Haine (Hate)’

As the opening credits roll for Mathieu Kassovitz’s raw, vital and captivating 1995 film we’re shown clearly authentic footage of a riot in one of Paris’ dreary suburban housing projects. We’re told that it’s been sparked by the severe beating by police of an Arab youth, Abdel, and then continuing in black-and-white, Kassovitz introduces us to three young men who are his friends. They are Vinz (Vincent Cassel), left, a Jew; Said, an Arab; and Hubert (Hubert Kounde), a black. Kassovitz follows them throughout a restless, aimless day and night after they’ve learned that their friend is in the hospital and might not survive. The pals are united in poverty and a common enemy, a racist, bigoted French bourgeoise exemplified by the brutal behavior of the deeply hated cops, and their solidarity lends the film both irony and poignancy. La Haine is a visceral fable of a divided society heading blindly for a crash-landing (TMC early Monday at 2:45 a.m.).