World cinema films often convey profound messages about the
worlds they represent. Often world cinema films will not reach a wider audience
than within their own country of origins but others will cross over and thanks
to film festivals and often big American distributors (like for example
Miramax) will achieve international recognition. These films may sacrifice some
of their important social and political messages in order to appeal to a wider
and more globalised mass market. City of God and La Haine both maintain strong
messages while gaining large audiences across the world and many of these
messages are similar across both films.
In both City of God and La Haine, the poorer members of
society are segregated from the rich and appear excluded from wealthier parts
of the country. In La Haine the message is that the poor ethnic youth of les
banlieues feel excluded and hated by the rest of society and they therefore
riot every night as an expression of their rage against the society that
marginalises them. City of God offers in a similar way many of the same
problems. The mostly black inhabitants of the favelas are crammed together in
their slums, moved away from the ‘civilised’ cities and the drugs and guns are
allowed to proliferate with little interference from the corrupt police. Both
in La Haine and City of God, the youths rarely appear to have jobs. Even when
Rocket gets a job in a supermarket, he loses it because of his association to
the favela and its ‘runts’. Hubert in La Haine only finds money from drug dealing
and similarly in City of God, the drug dealers are the ones with the most money,
power and best clothes. The youths of both films rarely leave the places they
live and when they do the contrast is stark. City of God shows a wide open plan
newspaper office and apartment with hot running water in comparison to its
crowded, cramped, dirty and dangerous slums whereas La Haine offers a tasteful
art gallery where guests are offered champagne and called ‘sir’ in comparison
to les banlieues that are grey, crowded and covered in graffiti. In both films
the lower class (and often from ethnic minorities) appear excluded and cut off
from the wealthier areas of the country and therefore find it harder to find
legal employment and safety.
Another message that both films share is that there is a
cycle of violence that will continue to go on and on in poor areas if the cycle
is never broken. Both films start and end with violence and feature seemingly
good, honest and decent men dragged down into violence and despair. La Haine
takes its title from its message as stated by Hubert; ‘Hate breeds hate’. At
the start of the film it is revealed that a young man has been beaten by the
police so badly that he is in a coma. Vinz wants revenge on the police, as many
of the other youths in les banlieues do. The police hate the youths for rioting
and being violent and the youths hate the police for trying to oppress them and
for their own violence. The cycle is destined to repeat forever if somebody
does not break it. Similarly in City of God the violence escalates between
Carrot and Lil Ze’s rival gangs because members of the gangs continue to kill
each other and more and more people get dragged into the gang warfare due to
wanting revenge. When Lil Ze is finally killed by the runts (who he gave guns
to), it appears they are to be the next generation that will stalk the favelas
looking for people to kill and therefore gain more power. The tragedy of both
films is that Knockout Ned (who at first refuses to kill) and Hubert (who wants
kids to take out their anger on punching bags rather than the police) both end
in positions where they feel they have to fight and kill.
A message that comes out to varying degrees in both City of
God and La Haine is that the government, police and other institutions are
inherently racist, classist and corrupt in many countries around the world. It
ties into the earlier message that poor people are ‘swept under the rug’ in these
areas where they can almost be forgotten about. The favelas and les banlieues
are places where those who have no jobs and have often come from poorer
countries can be shoved at a minimum cost to the government and kept out of the
sight and minds of the wealthy. The police in both films are also represented
as corrupt and racist. In La Haine they have beaten a young Arab man to death
in their custody (and this was based on a true story) and later Said and Hubert
are taken and tortured by some cops who are ‘training’ a younger officer in the
ways to get away with abusing those in their custody without getting caught. In
City of God, the police are seen shooting innocent favela dwellers, selling
guns to gangs and taking money from dealers. The films seem to say that if the
police are not trustworthy and good, then why would the people obey or respect
them.
In both City of God and La Haine, the media is seen to play
a vital part in perpetuating stereotypes about poor ethnic youths. People in
wealthier parts of the country are rarely represented and all they probably
often know about the favelas and les banlieues is what they pick up from the
newspapers and the television news. La Haine starts with real footage of the
riots and the media are constantly relaying the tale of Abdel, the young man
beaten up by the police. The media harass the youths when they are minding
their own business and try to get them to talk about the riots which they
assume they were in. Similarly in City of God, Rocket gets a job at the
newspaper because he gets photos of the violent gangster Lil Ze. The journalists
are delighted to get a photo of Lil Ze and his gang, guns drawn and looking
mean. This image of poorer areas is what sells and what perpetuates stereotypes
about young ethnic minority youths. A counter argument is that the media help
people to see the injustice and inequality that are rife in their own
countries, in these cases, Brazil and France.
There are on the other hand a couple of messages that the
two films do not share. In City of God it appears as though hard work, decency
and honesty can be rewarded whereas La Haine has a more pessimistic view.
Rocket in City of God ends the film with an escape from his life and the
favelas. He does not choose guns, drugs, violence and hate and instead gets a
job as a photographer suggesting that there may be hope for those who try to
stay honest and hardworking. On the other hand in La Haine Hubert who worked so
hard to start a gym sees it burnt down by the people he created it for and
finally ends the film pointing a gun at a police officer.There is little hope
for the youths in La Haine no matter what they do and how hard they try.
Another difference is the representation of drug use and
drug dealing in the films. In City of God, cocaine particularly seems to bea cause
of major problems in the favelas. In both films, marijuana is smoked and dealt
with little problems. In fact Hubert deals to get money for his family and
Rocket buys drugs to help him get a girlfriend. However in City of God the
introduction of cocaine seems to bring bigger problems like Tiago’s addiction
and an increase in gang warfare and the proliferation of guns.
In conclusion, City of God and La Haine share many of the
same messages. They are both set in similar worlds and depict poverty and
conflict. They revolve around the clash of cultures between the poor and the
police and the warfare between gangs. While they are both made by middle class
white filmmakers, they both dig beneath stereotypes and attempt to challenge
some purely negative representations of poor ethnic minority youths. City of
God and La Haine both have powerful messages to convey but City of God has a
more mainstream approach by having a somewhat optimistic ending (at least for
main character Rocket) whereas La Haine leaves its ending bleak and wide open
and ensures that the audience is forced to think about its messages for a long
time to come.
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