Berkley Center

One of my favorite films is La Haine, introduced to me by a professor at Hamilton College during my freshman year in a class on contemporary French society. The movie recounts a day in the lives of three young men coming from immigrant families in housing projects, shortly after a riot which seemed to predict the 2005 riots in the banlieues of Paris. It touches on issues such as social integration of those who seem put on the periphery of a society in the process of defining its stance on multiculturalism. What’s more, the film starts with a chilling anecdote:

C’est l’histoire d’un homme qui tombe d’un immeuble de 50 étages. Le mec, au fur et à mesure de sa chute, il se répète sans cesse pour se rassurer : « Jusqu’ici tout va bien... Jusqu’ici tout va bien... Jusqu’ici tout va bien. » Mais l’important, c’est pas la chute. C’est l’atterrissage.

(This is a a story of a man who is falling from a fifty story building. He, gradually during his fall, continuously reassures himself “so far, so good... so far so good... so far so good.” What’s important is not the fall. It’s the landing.)

If the man in the opening quote represents French society, it seems that French society as a whole is gradually approaching a landing which could be construed as good or bad. All is “so far, so good” until we approaching the brink and ultimately a landing. This landing symbolizes France’s ability to confront its complicated past and (positively) self-reflect on the prospects of its diverse and certainly multicultural future.

At first, I did not know what to make of the film. I’m not French, therefore I do not understand the struggles and anxieties currently present in modern French society. I did not have the same sense of references as my French colleagues with whom I studied during my time at Sciences Po Lyon in order to really grasp the real challenge the film attempted to depict. Simply put, the film is an introspective look into the struggles of a highly diverse political community in an odd limbo, trying to find itself in a new era during which there is mass immigration and therefore a great sense of anxiety in defining what it means to be French.

Living in France with a host family and directly matriculating into a French university helped me develop an understanding of the discourse France is currently having on race, culture, and society-at-large. In a society so intent on preserving its cultural identity, there is bound to be tension regarding French identity. We are forced to decide who is allowed in and who has to stay out; how do we deal with those who are already here and how does society perceive the “other?” The responses in recent months have been chilling.

Recently, a member of the far-right Front National compared Christiane Taubira, the current Minister of Justice from French Guiana, to a monkey. This followed after a black minister in Italy was mocked in a similar manner. And this only brings back the memory of the New York Post’s tasteless chimp cartoon mocking the stimulus deal and presumably President Obama.

With the onslaught of economic downturn and further disintegration of the politics of the European Union, we only amplify the harsh malaise that seems to be plaguing politics throughout Europe. There are waves of anti-immigrant parties gaining support all across Western Europe. The topic of Islamic influence on society resurged during a time of financial and economic downturn, seeming to be misplaced and somewhat exclusionary. Exclusionist sentiments, while not in the majority in terms of political support, have been on the rise and are still present.

Simply stated, we, as a society, are in an awkward position. How do we modernize our perceptions of culture and stability during times of globalization and economic integration of global markets? Moreover, is it really possible to preserve the familiar while ushering in a new era of unprecedented interconnectedness?

With that said, is French society approaching another breaking point, similar to that of the 2005 riots, during which protestors and more generally “outsiders” engaged in political violence in a struggle against racism, police brutality, and other tough questions linked to France’s colonial past? It seems that France and America have a similar dialogue on race, inclusion, and acceptance that needs to be had. So far, so good: neither of us have hit that landing or breaking point. But if La Haine serves as reference, and even predictor, for these types of displays in the public sphere, we all may soon be heading towards an abrupt crash.