Wow. It's not very often that I'm afforded the opportunity of witnessing a masterpiece up on the big screen. On the rare occasion that I do it usually is in the comfort of my own home mining an already adored classic that until that point had somehow escaped me. Here with A Prophet though I've been afforded that all too uncommon privilege of seeing it firsthand, realizing in the moment that I am watching a film that will be talked about for the ages as one of the greatest stories of a man rising through the ranks of the criminal underworld. The film won the second highest prize at the Canne Film Festival in 2009, losing only to the incredible overrated White Ribbon by Michael Haneke. A Prophet is a film that unlike the White Ribbon is thoroughly engrossing and engaging. It grabs you from the very first frame and never lets go. It subtly and and steadily keeps you locked inn to the story of a nobody criminal for over two and half hours.
A Prophet tells the story of Malik El Djebena played with a star making performance by Tahar Rahim. The movie begins with Malik going away to prison for six years. Inside he knows nobody, just like on the outside. He's is a poor french immigrant with little to no education who at nineteen seems destined to remain in the underclass of society forever. Once inside he keeps to himself until a special favor is asked of him by the frighteningly menacing Cesar Luciani played with commanding authority by Niels Arestrup. Inside the prison walls no one has more power and control of the detention system then Cesar, a position of authority that he constantly exercises and reminds other cellmates of. Just like in the United States prison system, France's system is also made of various ethnic groups who all band together inside for protection and vie for power. What's interesting here though is that instead of whites vs. blacks like in the U.S. system its muslims vs. corsicans in France. Malik is a light colored looking muslim who quickly because of favors done for Cesar falls under the protection of the corsicans, something that doesn't sit well with the muslims or the corsicans in Cesar's crew. For the first three years Malik spends most of his time learning to read and write and secretly learning corsican, a skill that becomes incredibly invaluable to him as he continually finds himself in extremely dangerous situations. What's so amazing about Malik is that we seem to forgive him for all of his bad deeds. We feel like this isn't just his journey but ours as well. Were right there from the beginning. We see his accomplishments and his failures. His good decisions and his bad. We empathize with him despite all his faults.
A prophet is the kind of film that only gets better with repeated viewings. Having seen the film twice now I can say that my appreciation for it has only deepened. It's easily one of the best gangster films of the last twenty years. I strongly urge anyone who has just read this review to go watch it as soon as possible.
A+
2010
