A PROPHET - a long descent into criminality

Jacques Audiard’s -’Un Prophète’,( A Prophet), with Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Hichem Yacoubi & Adel Bencherif, was seen at the Curzon, Soho, London 6/3/10

Young illiterate arab-looking man Malik( Tahar), sentenced to six years in prison and at the start of his sentence resists approaches from other inmates but decides it is safer to ally himself with the apparent criminal boss, a Corsican, Luciani Cesar( Niels). Luciani asks him to murder Reyeb( Hichem) a fellow prisoner who has befriended him, and shows him how to do it. Very bloodily, this is accomplished and, though shocked at his own brutality, he’s accepted into the gang.

Soon enough, he starts going to education classes and eventually he’s allowed out on parole, arranged with Luciani’s connivance, and he gets involved in crime outside prison. And as the muslim population in prison increases, he makes a friendship with Ryad( Adel) so that when Ryad is discharged Malik has a connection on the outside - which will lead perhaps to his redemption.

It has an OSCAR nomination

‘A Prophet’, 2009, France subtitled, Gangster Thriller, 35mm a/r 1.85, 150mins, written by Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit and the director, was produced by Lauranne Bourrachot, Martine Cassinelli & Marco Cherqui, with an alleged budget of $12million & with DoP Stéphane Fontaine - having to read the subtitles is a disadvantage with this flick and, though it is very long the story speeds along and is carried by the faultless camera work.

Worldwide this film has just covered the budget and, in the UK it has grossed about £2million. It won the Grand Jury Prize in Cannes, Best Film in London Film Festival and a BAFTA for Best Foreign Film and it has an OSCAR nomination - all of which will be pleasing Optimum, the UK distributors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1ELQLDzZwo

http://www.un-prophete-lefilm.com/

http://www.curzoncinemas.com/#/whats_on/a_prophet

simon

www.rudereviews.com

My Gran, who, you’d know, is an expert in this type of flick, says that its chances at the Oscars would have been bettered if the film had been shortened from its 2 1/2 hour length to a more manageable 2 1/4 hours. With the length and all that criminality she said - at the end - “J'ai l'impression d'avoir été agressé!”( she felt like she’d been mugged). So did I.