Un Prophète – A Prophet (2009)

Directed by: Jacques Audiard | 150 minutes | drama, thriller, crime | Actors: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb, Hichem Yacoubi, Jean-Philippe Ricci, Jean-Emmanuel Pagni, Gilles Cohen, Antoine Basler, Leïla Bekhti, Pierre Leccia, Foued Nassah, Frédéric Graziani, Slimane Dazi

Do movies ever run too long? That certainly does not apply to ‘Un prophète’. Despite the respectable length of 150 minutes, this is not a minute too long. The strong story, the tension and the magnificent images grab you and immerse you. This is yet another film that is a masterly mixture of raw reality and almost poetic imagery.

‘Un prophète’ won the Grand Prix du Jury at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Malik Al Djebena (Tahar Rahim) is nineteen and has to go to prison. He has been given six years and has to sit down among the real tough guys. They are hard-core criminals who are organized internally into gangs. They conduct a reign of terror and also constantly compete with each other for power. Malik is illiterate and soon he is put under life-threatening pressure by Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup), leader of a Corsican gang: he is ordered to murder a fellow inmate. Reyeb (Hichem Yacoubi) threatens to provide information about the gang at a trial. The message is hard and clear: kill or be killed.

Cesar has a lot of influence within the prison system: wardens are sometimes corrupt or cooperate under great pressure, because these life-threatening criminals are also released one day. When Malik wants to inform the prison management, he soon finds that he – for whatever reason – should not expect any help there. He is therefore completely alone and will have to ‘deliver’. Survival is simply eating or being eaten. Malik proves himself and thus commands respect. He is one of them, a member of the system and can no longer escape them. Yet for the Corsicans he remains the Arab who can never be one of them. He may run errands for them, do dirty jobs, but remains a useful outsider who is sacrificed when he is no longer needed. He is a traitor to the large population of Arab inmates, because he is a sidekick of the Corsicans. Malik cannot help but play the game and realizes that he can only survive through cunning, resistance or refusal equals a self-chosen end of life. He provides services time and again and in this way climbs up in the organization. Cunningly he tries to form his own network.

Malik is not yet eligible for leave, but this too can be ‘arranged’ by Luciani within the system. However, that only means new assignments for Malik. Due to his stay in prison and the education he has received there, he is increasingly aware that he is trapped in a spiral of violence from which he must – one way or another – escape.

‘Un prophète’ takes place largely within the prison walls. The way life is portrayed there is oppressive and impressive. In such a tough environment, violence – verbal, psychological and physical – is commonplace. This has been unequivocally incorporated and portrayed in the film story, with mutual sexual relations and additional prostitution. These images are sometimes penetrating, but never disturbing. It is simply a given in the prevailing social order there. Prison life, the rituals, the procedures, the repression, the tensions, the racial contradictions: the film shows it all and convincingly. In addition, the scenario has striking moments in which Reyeb appears several times with Malik and thus forms Malik’s conscience and reminds him of his actions that regularly give him nightmares.

Tarim Rahim acts masterfully, his appearance is grand. Niels Arestrup convincingly plays the role of the Corsican gang leader, comparable to the portrayal of Brando in ‘The Godfather’. The overall staging is overwhelmingly realistic, the editing is perfect, while the soundtrack adds just that little bit extra to make ‘Un prophète’ a top-class film. Brilliant and exciting for the full 150 minutes!