La Haine (1995)

A groundbreaking French film, La Haine is a suspenseful black and white film with an interesting documentary-like look, that covers a day in the lives of three young men living in the 'banlieues' of Paris. Set in the aftermath of a riot, this film challenges the police system, and attends to the issues of police brutality, class division and attitudes between the police and the three men this film follows. This film is fascinating in that it goes from one hostile situation to another wherever they go, and it quickly and realistically develops the main characters over the course of the film. Some of the situations they find themselves in are quite brutal and shocking, but it works effectively to emphasize the difficulties facing many youths, and some events in the film was based on real life occurrences, riots that took place for ten years between 1986 and 1996 in France. It might as a result be lost on foreign audiences and those watching it without any prior knowledge of the riots or the social difficulties facing young people in the suburbs of large cities in France, however it remains an extremely effective film, that people from any country can relate with, as the film address issues that are relevant in many places.

Overall, I would consider this film to be one of the most iconic foreign films of the past thirty years, and I would highly recommend it.