Love + HateLove + Hate is a modern love story set across the racial divide in a Northern town. Adam has been brought

up in a home and community that fosters racism. Naseema is a girl from the same town. But what Adam and Naseema really share is a secret desire to break free of their small town and its inhibitions, something they discover while working together in a DIY store. At first resistant, they cannot avoid their mutual attraction,

and embark on a relationship which threatens to bring down their families as well as themselves. After Adam’s brother beats Naseema’s father up she begins to ignore Adam; it is then he realises his feelings for her. Naseema soon realises her feelings as well and the two decided to run away. Naseema’s brother finds

out and tries to stop her but in the end they leave on a train to London.

http://youtu.be/nZKGnRXZayc

Laura, Emileigh and Millie

Naseema and her familyNaseema is a young British Muslim girl who comes from a Muslim background and culture. She lives in Northern England with her father, mother and brother Yousif. She begins her first job at a DIY shop in her local town where she meets Adam; her future boyfriend. Part-way through the film Naseema’s father is attacked by a group of racist white males who are related to Adam. This puts strain on Naseema and Adam’s relationship from the start. Yousif finds who has attacked his father and swears to beat them up as well, provoking his prejudices so he becomes racist towards white people. He also see’s the relationship between Naseema and Adam progress and says it is forbidden because he is white and is believed to have taken part in beating up the father. Yousif is hypocritical as he is seeing one of Naseema’s friends, Michelle (who is white) and ultimately dumps her because he is ashamed of this. In the end it is Yousif who is beaten up because he dated a white girl, leaving Naseema with the choice to leave her family or leave with Adam.

Adam and his familyAdam comes from a racist white background where his family and friends are extremely prejudice towards Asian people. Although he doesn’t say anything explicit towards other races we see that he too holds some racist views because of his up-bringing. When Naseema starts at the DIY shop he works at we see that he doesn’t want to be around her (at first) because she is Asian. It isn’t long before he begins to like Naseema yet he is torn between her and his ‘beliefs’. His brother- probably the most racist in the family- was the one who beat Naseema’s father up, which makes Naseema believe Adam was involved to. However, when Naseema will not talk to him and leaves the shop he soon realises that he does love her and is prepared to look past his racist views to be with her. At first she is resilient because of her brother and family but she is soon persuaded to run away with Adam and leave their racist families behind. At the end of the film they meet at a train station and board a train to London where they can finally be together.

Love + Hate Love + Hate is based around the idea of two different cultures coming together as one, when Adam, a local shop worker, falls for strict Muslim Naseema on her first day at work. However, we see Adam being portrayed as a racist when his brother beats up Naseemas father, a local taxi driver. Despite this, Naseema continues to be engrossed in her relationship with Adam, as the pair run off together. Both families are seen as working class, as they live in North West England in small houses. Adam and Naseema work in a local wallpaper shop, where it seems to be quiet, dull and rundown. Naseema is shown getting two buses to work, portraying the aspect that she will travel far for a simple job which many people would turn down due to its setting. Love + Hate also gives us the idea of working class white people being racist, loud and boisterous towards the Muslim community, leaving them feel threatened and limited into where they can go. However the Muslim community also comment on the idea of young white girls being “easy”, which is seen through the characters of Naseemas brother and Michelle

The aspect of young girls being taken advantage of by older men is an obvious centeral point in Love + Hate. We see Michelle, a young fun teenager, fall in love with Naseemas brother, Yousif. Yousif is shown as a strict Muslim, but we see him at the start of the film driving around in his car at night picking up young girls to sleep with. This portrays the idea of young girls as sexual prey for Muslim men, as most Muslim women aren’t like white women, but instead prefer to stay “pure” for their husband. This is a topic which is seen daily around the world, as the film highlights the dangers of being out at night to young girls. The age gap between both Michelle and Yousif is not seen as a problem, however we do see Michelle fall in love with Yousif much more deeply than first imagined, however Yousif sees nothing of it but sleeping with a young girl.