The Wait

Sunday was relatively quiet and uneventful- (A welcome reprieve from Friday's adventures). The sun was blindingly glorious, the weather was unseasonably warm. Save for a couple of errands, I didn't do much. Coffee and a bagel... slathered with onions and chives cream cheese on wheat. I watched two extremely important DVDs: La Haine- (extremely compelling in its content re: urban disenchantment- in the les banlieue section of Paris- with law enforcement, marginalization, and racism in France. Visually striking in black and white and universal to every inner city/"urban" situation...) and Games of Love & Chance - (a look at young minority teenagers coming of age in the suburbs of France, while preparing for a school production and dealing with the reality of their environs. Reminiscent of the film, Raising Victor Vargas)- In the midst of all this, I thought and I pondered... I pondered and thought. Sometimes I wish I were able to do neither. To just still my thoughts for a minute or two. Check out. They run around in circles. It's maddening. In the meantime, I'm still waiting. Waiting to hear. And that pressure that's been weighing heavy on my chest, still hasn't let up ... The malaise of anxiety.
**painting (above-left) from www.doctorhugo.org/paintings/index.html**

3 comments

Anonymous said...

La Haine was one of the first French flicks I ventured out on my own to find and watch. It was so intriguing to me because the story follows these three young men and what happens to them when they find a gun...just ONE gun. I thought that was wild because in the states you have young people all toting pistols and machine guns and everything, but at that time in France it was a lot more difficult to do that, even if you lived in a tough neighborhood. I hope some folks reading this blog will see this movie because it's a well-crafted tale of the racial climate in France and the cinematography is great!

- Cat

TiffJ said...

La Haine is one of the most important films out there. Along with Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing"
I noticed Mathieu Kassovitz used a lot of the same camera tricks that Spike Lee uses (such as zooming in quick on some of the characters), so you can definitely tell that Lee is one of his influences.

I love how the gun they find belongs to a police officer, who lost it during the riots. LOL

I've been trying to get my hands on La Haine for the longest, and Netflix didn't have it (while I was looking for it) but they do now.
I actually stumbled on it, @ the local library.

Because the film was done in B&W it was difficult for Kassovitz to get financing/distribution... so he even had a colored version waiting in the wings. SO glad he decided to risk the risk of keeping it Black and White.

Unknown said...

La Haine was the joint! i have to cop that on DVD

i have to watch the other one

Raising Victor Vargas reminded me of my childhood (along with Juice)