Back again with another strange VHS collection review. Seeing as my last viewing experience with the film Black Rain was so exhilarating I decided to venture back again into the depths of our VHS collection to find yet another hidden gem. This film in particular caught my eye because while I had heard of the French director Mathieu Kassovitz (specifically for his acting role in the film Amelie, 2001) I found it strange that the written title on the VHS was written in English and translated to Hate. This odd observation led to the interesting discovery that while this film was indeed a French film, the title was only translated to the English title Hate as supposed to La Haine (MV 9221) exclusively for the VHS release of the film. So having that said you can be assured that if you sign out this film from our Media Library you will be holding a type of collector’s edition version of this masterful film.
This film is completely in black and white yet it has a striking power that most modern films in color lack. The organic intensity of the acting and the way the sequences are put together by Kassovitz are truly impressive and will leave you glued to the edge of your seat throughout the film. This film was received incredibly well, winning the award for best director from both the Cannes Film Festival and The Lumiere Awards in 1995, along with more Cesar Awards including best film, and best editing.
Through the trajectory of the film the audience follows three young men living in the outskirts of Paris in the mid 90’s, they travel the city a day after a massive riot had erupted in which one of their close friends was shot by riot police. The tensions portrayed as the boys struggle to find news about their friend while also having several run ins with police continually grows through the entirety of the film finally arriving at a climactic ending in which the line “La haine attire la haine” which translates to “hatred breeds hatred” summarizes the overarching theme of this film with one last powerful blow. The film is artistic and youthful, full of risk and exceptionally executed. If you are a fan of the earlier work of Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, such as Amores Perros 2000 or earlier films from Antonio Serrano such as Sexo, Pudor, y Lagrimas 1999, I can guarantee you will love this film.
Post by Special Projects Student Assistant Cesar Velasco
Every year, the UNT Libraries are graced with numerous patrons and donors that drive our work in supporting the student community in more ways than we can count. Bi-weekly, here on Contribution Corner, we will acknowledge one patron by exploring a donated game or movie they have given.
This week, our game of choice is Tail Feathers from Plaid Hat Games.
Shadows whisper deep within the oaken roots of Nestlebrook. Wizards scry black wings from pinpoint drops of water. Silence scouts from the edges of Meanderfield. All voices ring with the same message, the Downwood Militia must take arm.
Tail Feathers takes place in the same world as the Plaid Hat hit Mice and Mystics. In this game, our mousy friends take wing, riding their starling and blue jay mounts, to fight the invading rat army and their allied rooks.
Unlike Mice and Mystics, which takes the form of a story driven co-op dungeon crawl RPG, Tail Feathers instead looks at tactical combat and incorporates an interesting flight mechanic into a skirmish battle game. Balancing speed and maneuverability as you manage your flying units, and disrupting this balance through tactical placement of ground forces is key. Combined, this new take on flight movement with incomplete information mission options creates deep strategic gameplay and interesting player interaction. Using familiar themes, characters, abilities, and components from Mice and Mystics, this game quite successfully integrates one genre into another.
We had an absolute blast playing this game. Each scenario from the provided scenario book created unique choices in how each player approached the game. Early on, our Downwood Militia player took some hard hits, allowing for the Vermin Raiders to obtain a bit of an edge. The added benefits of each game was minor though, and by scenario 3 the Downwood Militia gained a win through superior mission usage and action card selection. The final game was a tough one that lasted a bit longer than the estimated 60-90 minute time frame. Meticulous decisions were made, but in the end, the Downwood Militia was victorious.
In all, we would highly suggest Tail Feathers as a strong selection for a competitive two player game!
We would like to thank Plaid Hat Games for this great donation.
If you would like to give Tail Feathers a try, or another selection from Plaid Hat Games, they are 
Set in 1944 Spain, against the backdrop of the anti-Franco guerrilla warfare. When young Ofelia and her mother go to live with her new stepfather on a rural military outpost, she finds herself in a world of unimaginable cruelty. Soon Ofelia finds the creatures of her imagination in which she used to escape have become a reality and she must battle them to save both her mother and herself. In the terrifying battle that ensues, Ofelia soon learns that innocence has a power that evil cannot imagine.
Four main stories show the rise of the Communist revolution in Cuba, including Battista’s Havana and the grinding poverty and oppression of the Cuban people.
Raimunda lives in Madrid with her daughter Paula and her drunk husband Paco. Her sister, Sole, is separated and works clandestinely as a hairstylist for women. Years ago, in the sisters birth village, they lost their parents in a fire in La Mancha. Their aunt, Paula, still lives in the village and continues to speak about her sister Irene, mother of the two sisters, as if she were still alive. When the old aunt dies the situation changes and the past returns(volver).
A quiet, cynic taxidermist, who suffers from epilepsy attacks, is obsessed with committing the perfect crime. He claims that the police are too stupid to find out about it when it’s well executed, and that the robbers are too stupid to execute it the right way. He feels that he could do it himself by relying on his photographic memory and his strategic planning skills. He is invited on a hunting trip away from his home. Once there, an accident gives him the chance of a life time: the possibility to commit the perfect crime.
The anchor of a popular news show flies to a small town in Ecuador to cover a story about a serial child killer. He saves a man after the town tries to lynch him. The man offers information about the case in exchange for a story about his innocence.
Fausta suffers from ‘The Milk of Sorrow, ‘ an illness transmitted through mother’s milk by women who’ve been raped during Peru’s civil wars. Stricken with the fear that she’s contracted the illness from her mother’s breast milk, Fausta goes to extreme lengths to protect her own sexuality and safety. After her mother’s sudden death, she finds herself compelled to embark on a frightening journey for re-awakening, freedom, and wholeness.
Gen.—Efraín Ríos Montt was a military leader in Guatemala during the early, 1980. s. He was responsible for over 200,000 deaths of Mayans. The filmmaker Pamela Yates was making the documentary “When the mountains tremble” there at the time, and her film was later entered as evidence by lead counsel Almudena Bernabeu during the genocide trials of seven Guatemalan military officials. This film tells the story of five main characters whose destinies collided in the Guatemala of 1982.
Explores Chile’s bloody 1973 coup through the coming-of-age story of a pair of 12-year-old boys. From opposite extremes of society, Gonzalo and Pedro form an unlikely friendship as politics rip their world apart.
