Flick of The Day: A Prophet / Un Prophete

The prison film is a well travelled genre. There is something about the incarceration of our fellow man that for whatever reason leads to great drama. I suppose as it is unnatural for human beings to be incarcerated, it is then the strongest sentence a society can impose to restrain that natural freedom. This struggle creates drama, plot and ultimately a compelling story. There have been many very fine prison dramas from Cool Hand Luke, to The Shawshank Redemption, one of the all time greats. To this list then must be added today's flick of the day, A Prophet.

A Prophet

A young man of Arabic descent, vulnerable but retaining immense character is immersed into the hellish world of a notorious French prison after receiving a sentence of 6 years for a crime that is never explained in any detail. Malik played by newcomer Tahar Rahim is quickly initiated into brutality of every day prison life.The prison is initially split into two rival groups, the Corsicans led by a violent brute called César Luciani played by  the brilliant Niels Arestrup who hold all the power and the Arabs while growing in number are very much under the boot of the Corsicans. César gives Malik an ultimatum, either he murders a fellow Arab due to testify against a Corsican or he himself will be killed. A torn Malik is pushed into the hit and gradually earns a grudging respect amongst the Corsicans. Before long, he graduates from small time criminal to fully fledged gangster creating his own criminal network on the outside. Eventually he outgrows the machinations of César and becomes his own man.

Directed by Jacques Audiard, this is a triumph of a film on so many levels. Firstly, the performances of young Tahar Rahim and the legendary Niels Arestrup are one of the finest on screen pairings I have seen in many years. The growth of Tahar's character from callow youth to gang leader over the course of two and a half hours of screen time is breathtaking as he comes under the influence of Arestrup's brutish and yet quietly scheming César. Arestrup was previously seen in another French flick of the day, Farewell. Secondly, the film is perfectly paced, written more like a novel then your average film. With each chapter additional layers are added. Central to everything is that Malik is a very compelling character. Shunned by his fellow Arabs for being close to the Corsicans and too Arab to ever be a Corsican, he is in the middle of the prison's gang wars and is smart enough to ultimately play one against the other. Malik is no angel, he is capable of violence but yet compared to the fearsome César is a character you can root for.

A big international upon its release, A Prophet was just pipped to the Best Foreign Language Picture at the 2010 Oscars by the equally brilliant The Secret in Their Eyes. It is well worth another look, it is the kind of film that once again reinforces my opinion that the best film-making in the world today is not in Hollywood but in the rest of the world. A triumph.