La Haine is underlined by a ticking clock, and by Hubert’s story of a man falling (Kassovitz’s metaphor for the banlieue as social time bomb). Conflict in the working-class banlieue was a common occurrence before La Haine. The cités social problems include: run-down housing, a high populace of young people from immigrant backgrounds, drugs, and widespread unemployment. Just like in the film, they are regularly portrayed in the media as violent, dysfunctional areas. Vinz, Hubert, and Said’s isolation is representative of the social gap that separates the haves from the have-nots, the majority from the underclass, and the city center from the banlieue. La Haine focuses on the violent minority as opposed to the whole population. It gives a vibrant