A Prophet [DVD] (2009)

A quote on the box describes A Prophet as ''Scarface meets the Godfather''; I think a more accurate description would be Scarface meets The Shawshank redemption. An even more accurate description still would be Scarface meets Scum.

The story follows a young man, thrown into Jail at the tender age of 19 - rejected by most of the prison gangs he eventually finds a home of sorts amongst a group of Mafioso; who tolerate him rather than embrace him. He spends his time doing chores for the gang and cultivating his mind, before eventually rising to power for himself.

As you'd imaging there are some rather brutal scenes in this film, but it is not through violence our hero rises to power. It's more through clever navigation of prison politics and knowing when to pick a fight and with who. Violence is not the main thrust here. The film is far cleverer than that, and you'll really have to watch and pay attention to understand what's going on.

Both I and my flat mate were glued to the TV last night as this epic unfolded - cursing the fact that we couldn't pull our eyes away or switch it off, despite its 155minute running time keeping us up well past our bedtime. The story, in this sense also, is just like scarface - epic - spanning many years and taking its time to unfold.

The way the story is told is excellent - with plans being set in motion and names dropped well in advance of exciting outcomes and anything happening - and I suspect it'll be even better on a second viewing. The acting is excellent, and you really like, admire, and feel for the star as his predicaments arise one after the other. You can taste the tension, and moments - particularly at the start - are terrifying, as you try to imagine what on earth you'd do if put in his situation.

I've given this film 4 stars - although it is equally deserving of 5 - I wouldn't argue with anyone who gave it 5, but for me the reality of the way it was shot and acted just meant it lacked something for me when it came to viewing pleasure. It was like watching real life and not a film - so in that sense, it wasn't as enjoyable for me as it could have been. Never the less - I thought it was great and would really recommend it to anyone thinking of buying it. I'll probably watch it again very soon, knowing what to expect, and then come back and change my score to 5 - but for now it remains a 4. I know my flat mate would have given it a 5 stars. After 15 minutes he was in awe of it.

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Films like Un Prophete don't come about very often, but when they do, they can hardly afford to be missed. I didn't really know much about this film as I picked it up on the basis of a very strong recommendation from a lot of people, with a few likenesses banded about comparing it to The Godfather and Scarface. It was only when I read the comment from FHM on the box that I realised these comparisons were hardly original, seeing as they were written on the box.

I don't think that Un Prophete is adequately described by those similes, as it stands up perfectly well on its own two feet. The most important fact that isn't obvious from those recommendations is that this is essentially a prison drama. Instead of telling an epic Disney-style story of The Shawshank Redemption, this film owes far more to the grimy realism of Taxi Driver, complete with the violence that is enough to make most people squirm a little in a couple of places early on in the film.

The whole film is a masterpiece to behold. I wouldn't necessarily call it a film to enjoy; it's not the sort of thing to watch with a bowl of popcorn in between a couple on a romantic night in. The acting leads are understatedly brilliant. I almost didn't notice the acting, simply because they drew me right into their world (even though one of the lead characters does look very much like Antony Worral Thompson). Every time I though the film was about to run out of steam, the director manages to pace the film perfectly, keeping me interested and immersed into the Machievellian power play being drawn out by the two leads, watching the shift in power, which culminates in a brilliant scene at the end, which has no audible dialogue but whose images convey flawlessly the shift in power and the usurping of the king.

Jacques Audiard's 2009 film A Prophet is his brilliant, visceral follow-up to his outstanding 2006 film The Beat That My Heart Skipped. Both films display virtuoso narrative and cinematographic filmmaking skills, ranking them, for me, along with Michael Haneke's Hidden, as the finest French films to have been made thus far in the 21st century. The film won the Grand Prix at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the 2009 Oscar for Best Foreign Film, losing out to the (much inferior) Argentinian film, The Secrets In Their Eyes.

A Prophet tracks the progress of 19-year-old French Algerian Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), as he finds himself serving a 6-year term in prison for an assault on the police, and needing to contend with the well-established and brutal prison regimes that are enforced not by the warders, but rather the gangs, organised along racial lines, ruling the roost inside. Foremost among them is the gang led by Corsican Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup), and Malik is soon made an offer he can't refuse (involving the brutal murder of a fellow inmate), and is thereafter guaranteed protection by Luciani's gang.

Audiard's film is a masterclass in all things cinematic. Acting-wise, Rahim (making his debut in a lead film role) is a revelation as Malik. In just as vital a performance as that delivered by Romain Duris in Audiard's The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Rahim shows talent way beyond his experience as he is transformed from the initially disaffected, reticent teenager to the confident and (increasingly) natural successor to Luciani's Mr Big. For me, however, the standout performance in the film is delivered by Niels Arestrup. Having first come to my attention via his brilliant (albeit relatively limited in terms of screen time) performance as the father Robert in The Beat That My Heart Skipped, here Arestrup is frighteningly convincing as the softly spoken, but uncompromisingly brutal gang boss. The scenes between Rahim and Arestrup contain some of the most powerfully intense acting to have hit the screen in recent years. It is also notable that Arestrup has, not surprisingly, landed a number of more mainstream roles following his performances for Audiard, for example in The Big Picture and even Spielberg's Warhorse (that man's talent spotters clearly know their stuff). I was considering whether there was any other current French film actor who could have delivered a performance of anything like the stature of Arestrup's - inevitably, I guess, Gerard Depardieu was the obvious contender for me, although I think even such a great actor as Depardieu would have struggled to compare favourably with Arestrup here. Another acting performance worthy of note in A Prophet is that of Adel Bencherif as Malik's friend Ryad. Audiard delivers some beautifully tender scenes between Malik, Ryad and Ryad's wife and child, as Malik's friend is diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Visually, the film is also outstanding. Cinematographer Stephane Fontaine has created some superbly muted and sparse backdrops to the events inside the prison, whilst also delivering some great action sequences (using hand-held cameras at times) as Malik leaves the prison on 'day release', during which he variously makes drug drops and carries out assassinations at the behest of Luciani. Also included are a number of brilliant dream sequence interludes, one of which (involving deer) foretells a car accident as Malik and associates speed along a country road - it is this event that gives Malik the moniker 'prophet' (and hence gives the film its title). Audiard also makes use of 'chapter titles' on the screen to denote the introduction of significant characters or events.

The film's original soundtrack is composed by Alexandre Desplat and provides a sparse, but moodily atmospheric backdrop to events, particularly inside the prison. Audiard also includes non-original music, including tracks from Talk Talk's Laughing Stock and music from Sigur Ros. The film also plays out to a brilliant version of Kurt Weill's Mack The Knife.

All-in-all then, A Prophet represents filmmaking at its most brilliant, and which stands, and indeed benefits from, repeat viewings.