Un prophète

The storyline of this film is well documented by other reviewers. I read the reviews at 2.30 this afternoon and by 5 PM I was in the local cinema. I wondered if I could survive 150 minutes but I found myself at the end wishing to know more, and rather regretting the end of this fascinating movie. I am not an expert review writer but I found the character portrayals so realistic that they nearly jumped out of the screen. Yes there is violence, bloody in parts, but it is so monumentally well filmed I could look away from the gore and towards the film as a work of art. If there was a mixture of amateur and professional actors, I could not tell the difference.

The names and functions of some of the various characters were lost on me but I got the general gist of it and I was motivated to consider the effect on the psychology of an unremitting regime of politics and violence. There is much food for thought here and I can unreservedly recommend it to all but the most squeamish.

When I read that this movie has more nominations than any other film for the European Film Awards (even more than Slumdog Millionaire) I decided to go and see it. I don't regret this decision and I hope the movie wins all six awards it has been nominated for.

This movie, about a young hoodlum who in prison becomes a dangerous criminal, is in the same league as last years's Gomorra. It shows the life of criminals as it is: tough, merciless and unscrupulous. This film is miles away from the romantic image of maffia-style crime gangs we know from Hollywood. There is no honour here, no attachments, no loyalty. Only self-interest. The style of the film reflects the rawness of its subject. The photography is meant to show life in a prison, not to please our sense of aesthetics.

Why is this such a good film? Because of the radical approach to show us nothing but the raw underbelly of France, but also because of the story which has many aspects. Malik, the central character, has no true identity at all: he is not a religious Muslim (he eats pork), but he is neither French nor Corsican. The members of the Corsican clan to which he is being attached despise him because he is not one of them, and so do the religious Muslims ('les barbus'). Another interesting aspect is the development of the relationship between Malik en the Corsican capo Cesar, with a very powerful apotheosis. And there is the changing of Malik himself of course, who in the beginning of this film seems to be devoid of any emotion at all, but in the end is capable of warm feelings towards his godson and the wife of his terminally ill friend.

After having seen Un Prophète, I regret not having seen Jacques Audiards other films.

The problem with praise is that so much is said and so much is built up that at times it can be quite imposing for me to approach a film to watch it for what it is. This happened with A Prophet, which is why it took me over a year to get around to watching it. The uniformly great praise and the awards all built this film up in my head as something that would be worthy, perhaps a little arty and maybe even deliberately inaccessible (which can be the case with some films that critics gush over – partly I think it makes them appear smart). Also, lest we forget, it is also in French and runs to almost two and a half hours long. However I decided it had been on my queue for far too long as it was and recently I sat to watch it.

What I found was not an art film, not a pretentious film, not a "foreign" film but rather just a really well told story of a young man falling into a life of crime but then climbing and scheming his way up it. The rather breathless manner in which the film has been discussed doesn't do it any favours because, if you ignore all the words, the film is just this and it does it very well indeed. The Malik at the start of the film is very different from the Malik in the later stages, even though only a few years have passed. The difference is very well handled and we see him grow in his abilities, his confidence and also his ruthlessness. All of this occurs in a consistent flow of narrative that begins with him being forced into a violent act (one that stays with him) but then making himself useful and starting his own things on the side. In terms of narrative events it is very well structured and easy to follow, but it is the emotional journey that adds layers to it.

I read one critic compare the journey from (comparative) innocence to that taken by Michael Corleone in The Godfather and, while the details are more low-key and grubby, it is a fair comparison. Malik is fascinating as he stresses himself sick over his first kill, but just as fascinating when playing the odds with the various factions he straddles with influence. He is never free of beatings or risk, but he engages in the way he deals with it all with confidence and a growing willingness to do what is required. Director Audiard delivers it all with a range of styles – most of which work. At times it feels very seedy and grey in colour, particularly at the start and the camera sits in corners and watches from afar; this then contrasts with other scenes where it owes a debt to Scorsese in the use of music and montages (Malik being put in role of porter to the sound of Nas being a sudden but effective change in style). I wasn't really feeling the use of words on the screen – it didn't seem to add much and it did feel a bit too derivative, but other than this I had no complaints.

The performances are mostly very strong. The standout is of course Rahim in the lead role; he convinces in his journey and he pitches his development just right across the film – never going too far from who he is, not becoming a different person, but just showing growth and change in small but important ways. Arestrup is nearly as good as the cruel but fading lord of the prison while Bencherif, Yacoubi and many others make convincing supports. The world of the prison also feels very real and very threatening and even the extras add to the feeling of the place.

A Prophet is a great film: a crime story with strong characters, well developed plot and a constant feel of risk and threat without being over the top or losing touch with the gritty real feel of the prison world. Directed with style (but not too much style) the film uses the cast well and produces a roundly engaging and satisfying story. Perhaps a bit too over-hyped and made out to be way more than it is, it is still very much seeing and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Goodfellas and other such crime stories.

At times hard to watch but in the end you come out with the feeling of having watched a masterpiece.

Perfect acting, scenario, directing, cinematography & sound...

This is definitely not a Hollywood production, but the best of what french cinema can be.

Audiard is a great director, having previously made "Read my lips" which i also recommend.

The main actor Tahar Rahim is a revelation, keep an eye on him in the future.

Niels Arestrup is also quite good in his role as a corsican crime boss

One of the biggest surprises of 2009, Jacques Audiard's 'Un Prophète' is the best French film in a decade, garnering strong critical and word-of-mouth support and winning the Grand Prix in Cannes (which for years now means that it's the actual festival winner). The surprise is that the story is far from being original: a young Arab sentenced to (adult) prison for the first time is forced by a Corsican mafia boss running the strings there to do his bidding. By and by, he manages to use his underling position to his own advantage. So it's a typical hard-boiled underdog story - what makes it so great then?

'Un Prophète' doesn't differ much in style from the French films of late, which were often so hell-bent on displaying life as a gritty and boring affair, and resorted to radical violence to underscore this point, that spectators were almost forced to feel disgusted, which was then claimed to be a denominator of the film's artistic success. This phenomenon has been called 'New French Extremity'. What Jacques Audiard has done is to combine the aesthetics of this trend with the traditions which once made the French film industry the most power- and meaningful in Europe, namely to focus on the relationship of the leading actors. The result is a film that is totally engaging from the first minute, because it entrusts the actors with the task of transforming the script into something of their own making.

And boy oh boy, Tahar Rahim does that job. A newcomer with a little bit of TV experience, his performance carries 'Un Prophète' with amazing vigor. It's a big chance, and he takes it. Would this be an English-language film, he'd be a surefire contender for the awards. His nemesis is portrayed by Niels Arestrup in an equally flawless, yet much more routinized way, which juxtaposes the two characters perfectly. Add to this the sophisticated editing already present in Audiard's last film 'De battre mon coeur s'est arreté' (2005), and you have the best European film of 2009, in spite of a story that you will most likely have seen dozens of times already.

If you usually don't like European movies, or if you have only time to see one a year, watch this one - you won't regret it.