"Un prophète"
There was a lot of hype surrounding this movie. And by a lot, I mean A LOT:
"Takes its place among the greatest crime films ever made."
- LITTLE WHITE LIES
"A pitch-perfect film."
-Manohla Dargis. NEW YORK TIMES
"The Godfather's ghost speaks French."
-Larry Rohter. NEW YORK TIMES Online
The general consensus is that Un prophète is a return to what crime dramas have been in the past: gritty and unashamed. Too many crime dramas of late are too concerned with how many explosions they can cram into 90 minutes or how much fancy fast-paced editing they can use before the viewers heads' explode. Un prophète thankfully does none of these. It won the coveted Gran prix award at last year's Cannes Film Festival and many have shown their disapproval for it not winning the Oscar for best foreign language film.
Un prophète follows the rise of Malik (Tahar Rahim), a French-Arab, trying to survive a six year jail sentence. He has no friends or family on the outside to send him money. He has no one inside the jail to depend on. He only has himself. In order to get protection, he performs a hit for the Corsican mafia headquartered in the jail. The leader of the Corsicans, Luciani (Niels Arestrup), sees Malik’s worth as an Arab who has no ties to the increasing Arab population in the jail. After Malik performs the hit he becomes a lower member of the Corsican mafia family. He slowly works his way up the ranks, going on day leaves to perform favors on Luciani’s behalf. He builds up a reputation that outgrows the Corsicans and he eventually betrays Luciani to form his own “family” among the Arab population in the jail.
Jacques Audiard’s direction is the major reason behind this film success. He has this knack for taking tiny moments and making them jump off the screen. One scene in particular that stuck with me was the scene when Malik goes through airport security. When he is pulled aside when the metal detector goes off, he is patted down. Since he is so used to this happening to him in jail, he opens his mouth for a second, as if security was going to check inside his mouth for any contraband. This split second blew me away because it was a subtle way to show how institutionalized Malik had become during his jail sentence.
The performances of the two principle characters, Malik and Luciani, are also phenomenal. Tahar Rahim was relatively unknown before this film, but has since received massive amounts of praise for his portrayal of Malik. His portrayal is equal parts ruthlessness, wit, and naivety. Malik’s only counterpoint in this film is Luciani, who is powerfully acted by Niels Arestrup. Niels has a commanding onscreen presence that demands the viewers’ attention. The scene where his character threatens Malik and almost gauges his eye out with a spoon is a great example of Niels strength as an actor.
Overall, this film deserves to be mentioned among great mafia movies like The Godfather andGoodfellas. Audiard is master storyteller and I look forward to seeing what other films he brings us in the future. If anyone gets the chance to see this movie, I highly recommend doing so. Un prophète will not disappoint.
