- The cinematic and political realms collide: The 2005 Paris riots and Mathieu Kassovitz’s 1995 drama La Haine; Submission: Part II to address Islam’s antagonism toward homosexuality; the aftereffects of Theo van Gogh‘s murder; Mohamed Malas’ Passion denounces Islam’s patriarchy.
2005 Paris riots and their connection to Mathieu Kassovitz’s dramatically flawed but prophetic 1995 drama La Haine
As the 2005 Paris riots continue into their second week – having now spread to other French cities – film aficionados will likely think of Mathieu Kassovitz’s César Award winner La Haine (“Hate”), a ten-year-old anti-establishment drama about how three young male outcasts – the Jewish Vinz (Vincent Cassel), the Arab Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui), the black Hubert (Hubert Koundé) – cope with life-altering events over the course of a fateful day and night in their impoverished banlieue.
Despite its glaring dramatic flaws, La Haine is worth at least a look, for notwithstanding its urban French setting the movie presents issues that should resonate with viewers just about everywhere on the planet: Bigotry, repression, violence, injustice.
Remember, it’s the “Paris Riots” today, but next month or next year or next decade, similar – or worse – riots may well be taking place at a neighborhood near you. Grab your popcorn.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s planned documentary Submission: Part II to address Islam’s anti-gay stance
According to reports, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee who has become a Dutch Member of Parliament for the ideologically messy People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (a mix of right-wing economics and liberal-minded social views) has announced plans to produce a movie about gays and Islam.
According to Hirsi Ali, in summer 2004 she and director Theo van Gogh co-wrote the screenplay of the upcoming film, to be called Submission: Part II. On Nov. 2 of that year, van Gogh was brutally murdered by a Muslim fanatic as retaliation for the television broadcasting of Submission: Part I, a 10-minute short about the mistreatment of women under Islam that van Gogh had directed from Hirsi Ali’s script.
A self-described “lapsed Muslim,” Hirsi Ali also received death threats at the time Submission was aired and had to remain in hiding for several months. In order to protect the planned sequel’s actors and crew members from potential attacks by Muslim radicals, the film will feature an anonymous cast and carry no credits.
According to a BBC article on Submission: Part II, “mainstream Islamic thought treats Islam and homosexuality as incompatible, and hostility to homosexuals is widespread in many parts of the Muslim world.” Unsurprisingly, the BBC implies by omission that anti-gay bigotry is somehow a “Muslim thing,” when in reality it is pervasive in societies – regardless of religion – where conformity to traditional patriarchal values are the rule.
More on the aftermath of Theo van Gogh’s murder in the segment below.
Social ‘polarization’ in the Netherlands after Theo van Gogh’s murder
In the Christian Science Monitor, Bruce Mutsvairo discusses how the November 2004 murder of Submission: Part 1 filmmaker Theo van Gogh has “polarized” Dutch society.
Maurits Burger, a terrorism expert at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, is one of those quoted in the CSM article:
“The [Christian Democrat-led] government policy has been too harsh and in violation of civil rights, especially in the long term. The continued bashing of Islam that has been taking place has caused widespread damage. The bitterness and resentment has increased within the Muslim community, which is why it is difficult to reconcile this split.”
In a tragic irony, Theo van Gogh’s last released feature, May 6th / 06/05, is a fictional account of the murder of openly gay Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, a demagogue who singled out Islam – as opposed to, say, Christianity – as an anti-gay ideology. Fortuyn was murdered by an animal rights activist on May 6, 2002, several days before the Dutch national elections that promised to give his newly formed party, Pim Fortuyn List, a significant chunk of the vote.
Among Fortuyn’s goals was a repeal of the first article in the Dutch constitution which forbids discrimination and an end to Muslim immigration to the Netherlands. He also referred to Islam as a “backward culture.” (Update: After years in disarray, Pim Fortuyn List closed shop in January 2008.)
Mohamed Malas’ award-winning drama Passion attacks Islamic patriarchy
Syrian filmmaker Mohammed Malas complains that cinema in his native country “is a sector which is still governed by the State. This means that we produce no more than two films a year. The private sector doesn’t invest in the cinema, which leads many directors, including me, to seek foreign production and assistance.”
At the Marrakech International Film Festival, where Malas’ Passion / Bab El Makam shared the Special Jury Prize with Jean-Marc Vallée’s gay-themed Canadian family comedy-drama C.R.A.Z.Y., the filmmaker also told reporters that Syrian government authorities have prevented his film from reaching local screens – an accusation that the Syrian Cinema General Establishment has refuted.
In Passion, Amine (Salwa Jamil) is an Aleppo wife and mother who finds renewed passion for life after becoming acquainted with the music of legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum. Her husband appreciates his happier wife, but his reactionary family members don’t, suspecting that she is actually seeing another man.
Besides Salwa Jamil, the Passion cast includes Naceur Ouerdiani, Oussama Sayed Youssef, Mahmoud Hamed, and Houda Rokbi.
Tolga Örnek’s Gallipoli revisits devastating World War I campaign
Here’s director Tolga Örnek on his World War I-set Turkish documentary Gallipoli / Gelibolu:
Of course, it’s not my goal to shock people, but it’s my goal to display the conditions and how horrific it was. And I want to take the glory and the polish out of war, because when we glorify battles, when we mythicize, like make campaigns into mythical stories, I think we really undermine the actual suffering that takes place, the actual horrors that take place. So I think the response, the overall response that we got in Australia in the preview screenings, where people responded to this, people got this from the film, people understood that war is not glory, war is not polished. As in the film, at the end of the film, it’s mud, disease, death, and fear.
In 1915, more than 100,000 people lost their lives in the Winston Churchill-sponsored Gallipoli campaign, which became one of the Allied Forces’ most disastrous World War I debacles.
Partly narrated by Best Actor Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune, 1990) and Sam Neill (Plenty, A Cry in the Dark), Gallipoli – which doesn’t sound at all like something intended for the Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down crowd – is not to be confused with Peter Weir’s Australian-made 1981 antiwar drama featuring Mel Gibson and Mark Lee.
Republican U.S. representative accused of film-related influence peddling
The Los Angeles Times reports that U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher – a Republican from Huntington Beach, California – “used his influence to open doors in Washington” for movie producer Joseph Medawar, who had previously optioned for $23,000 Rohrabacher’s screenplay about a “conservative” U.S. war veteran.
Medawar, whose credits in various producing capacities include mostly little-seen late 1980s and early 1990s releases like Hardbodies 2 and Slaughterhouse Rock (Sleepwalkers, which took in $30.5 million domestically, was a more successful exception), has recently pleaded not guilty to a 23-count federal indictment alleging that he has defrauded dozens of investors by selling $5.5 million worth of stock in his company, Steeple Enterprises.
“2005 Paris Riots & La Haine + Submission II & Passion” notes
Tolga Örnek quote via film critic Peter Thompson’s article on Gallipoli.
Vincent Cassel La Haine image: Canal+.
Salwa Jamil Passion image: Cinétévé.
“2005 Paris Riots & La Haine + Submission II & Passion” last modified in November 2025.