Prison Rules, Algerian Style (Un Prophete)

Film: Un Prophète
Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Tahar Rahim

Un Prophète marks yet another cinematic hit for director Jacques Audiard, who has previously had international success with films such as The Beat That My Heart Skipped and Read My Lips. The film tells the story of Malik, a young French man of Arabic origins who is sentenced to six years in prison for violence against the police. As the narrative unfolds we watch Malik go from a naive new inmate who is ample prey for any gang leader, to a savvy inbetweener who befriends both the Corsican and Arab prisoners to further his drug dealing escapades outside the prison walls. The film deals with many current French hot topics of debate such as immigration, xenophobia, the justice system and corruption, but you don’t need an insider’s knowledge of French politics to appreciate the many failings of the legal system exemplified in this film.

In cinematic terms the film is a delight. The camera weaves its way around the burrow-like prison until we ourselves feel the claustrophobia of this separated world of mafia gangs and life or death negotiations. The sombre grey and white tones of the inside setting are contrasted with the brightness of the world outside the walls, and the red blood of not-so innocent victims. The film is violent, but not in a gratuitous way: brutal scenes are executed with expert direction that leaves you thinking you saw more than you did. Audiard’s manner of handling violence is reminiscent of Michael Haneke in Caché; blood is far more shocking when used sparingly compared with simply spraying it all over the camera ever five minutes.

In France Tahar Rahim is getting well-deserved recognition for his portrayal of the protagonist Malik, the actor conveys his transition from wild eyed innocent to clued-up player with maturity and style, not unlike Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed. Sadly the Oscars have ignored his stellar performance, although Un Prophète is nominated in the ‘Best Foreign Film’ category (but will probably lose to Hanake’s The White Ribbon). If you like dark, tense tales of underworld gangs, corrupt societies and dirty dealings behind closed doors, current cinematic releases prove you can’t do much better than Un Prophète.