Universally acclaimed as a modern classic, Jacques Audiard's fifth feature is right up there with Rififi and the best of Jean-Pierre Melville reckons Michael Brooke.
Voted Sight & Sound’s best film of 2009, and winner of the Cannes Grand Prix in an unusually heavyweight lineup, Jacques Audiard’s fifth feature finally escapes onto DVD and Blu-ray from the festival and arthouse cinema circuit.
Its theme of a young man forced to negotiate a tough prison’s hierarchies to survive seems like a surprisingly conventional project for the director of The Beat That My Heart Skipped, but it’s hard to recall another recent film that’s so satisfying on quite so many levels.
First, despite a lengthy running time, Audiard doesn’t waste a frame, and more than one set-piece is destined to become a textbook suspense classic. Second, there’s a genuinely novelistic density to the treatment of the characters, with a largely unknown cast fleshing out a complex web of ethnicities and cultures: the film is so linguistically authentic in its blend of French, Corsican and Arabic that it needed subtitles even in its native France. Third, Audiard’s virtuoso direction uses a vast range of visual and aural effects without ever drawing attention to them, and this perfect match of style and content is augmented by countless subtle, witty touches that convey in seconds information that a lesser filmmaker would need entire scenes to impart.
Finally, and most importantly, a new star is born – it’s hard to believe that Tahar Rahim had barely been in front of a camera before, as Audiard coaxes an iconic performance that rivals that of a young Al Pacino. He’s beautifully partnered with the veteran Niels Arestrup as the increasingly weary Corsican crime kingpin (whose passing resemblance to Marlon Brando’s Godfather may not be coincidental), running his empire from his cell against stiff competition from younger, more ruthless and – most crucially – more mobile rivals.
Comparisons with the all-time greats might seem premature for a film that is so recent, but this really is right up there with Rififi, The Wages of Fear and the best of Jean-Pierre Melville.
Acclaimed as one of the best films of 2009, Un prophète won the 2010 BAFTA for the best film not in the English language as well as winning the Grand Jury prize at Cannes and the inaugural Best Film award at the London Film Festival.
Condemned to six years in prison, his debut in an adult detention facility, petty criminal Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) cannot read nor write. He is just 19 years old, and about to embark on an apprenticeship of violence and humiliation. Cornered by the feared kingpin of the Corsican mafia who rules the prison, Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup), he is given a number of 'missions' to carry out. Gaining Cesar’s confidence he is soon working for him on the inside, and later, using a series of day-release excursions, representing his criminal interests on the outside. Haunted by visions, and determined to get on, he not only learns to read but also teaches himself Corsican, manoeuvring himself into Cesar’s confidence while simultaneously building his own power base. Both despised by his racist patrons and distrusted by the prison’s Arab contingent for seemingly denying his Islamic identity, he floats between both worlds.
A Prophet is a provocative and intensely personal portrayal of an innocent who must learn his way in the only world that will have him.
