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Harvey Karten's Reviews

A Prophet

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#1 of 1 Posted Nov-2 10:28 PM

From Harveycritic Posts 1632 Last Nov-2
To All [Msg # 23999.1 ]

A PROPHET (Un prophete)

Sony Pictures Classics
Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey Karten
Grade: B+
Directed by: Jacques Audiard
Written By: Thomas Bidegain, Jacques Audiard, based on an original idea by Abdel Raouf Dafri, after an original screenplay by Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit
Cast: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb, Hichem Yacoubi
Screened at: Sony, NYC, 11/2/09
Opens: February 2010

Much has been said and written about the Barack Obama phenomenon—how a political figure virtually unknown at the time of the Bush-Bore campaign of 2000 came out of nowhere, battled the nominees from his own party, then went on to become a national hero in defeating long-term politician John McCain. Maybe it’s a stretch, but something similar goes down in Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet,” a prison drama that opens with the usual jailhouse conventions but then moves to a more imaginative conceit, more creative than a standard jailbird genre picture. “A Prophet” is the story of a man who is part Corsican-French, part Arab (perhaps tracing his line to Tunisia), an illiterate who came out of nowhere to play off one organized crime group against another ultimately to emerge as a tragic hero who goes off with the spoils.

The film features an intensely powerful role from Tahar Rahim, for most purposes a newbie to the acting profession, who emerged as well from a competition among others seeking the role of Malik El Djebena. Djebena is a 19-year-old repeat offender given a six-year sentence in France for assaulting a police officer, a man whose back-story involved spending his formative years in a juvenile correction center with no parental support or attention. His transformation from a shy, confused, friendless prisoner to a position of leadership is gained in part by paying attention to the prison school’s lessons in reading, writing and economics.

Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), given a six-year sentence for a relatively minor offense, is strip-searched, shown to his cell, beaten: a fish out of water. His loneliness is a factor of both his shy demeanor and his identity as half-Corsican and half-Arab Muslim, therefore not accepted by either faction at the prison. When Cesar Luchiani (Niels Arestrup), the head of the jail’s Corsican gang, recruits El Djebena, warning that the new prisoner must kill another Arab, Reyeb (Hichem Yacoubi) or be killed himself, Malik is at first horrified by ultimately follows the law of survival. While the execution gives him credence within the Corsican gang, Luchiani treats El Djebena like a slave, ordering him to make coffee and deliver messages. His role as a gofer is tested to the limit years later when, given a 12-hour pass to leave the premises, he must assassinate Luchiani’s chief rival.

Director and co-writer Jacques Audiard positions El Djebena to evoke our sympathies, despite his early-on killing of a man whom he knocks off because the fellow is about to testify in court against the gang. He is so beaten down by Luchiani—who, by the way, is an arch-villain who grants his slave hardly a whiff of parental-type affection—that the audience cannot be blamed for expecting a showdown between the two before Djebena is released. He is called a dirty Arab by the Corsicans, though Djebena’s fellow Muslims, however one-dimensional, are presented as a unit given over to prayer and keeping out of trouble. For his part, Djebena receives the support of his one true friend, former convict Riad (Adel Bencherif).

Director Audiard occasionally shoots out bold intertitles to introduce us to important convicts who will play a major role in Djebena’s transformation, while Alexandre Desplat’s music is appropriately restrained except during climactic moments. Stephane Fontaine films the gritty proceedings all against Michel Barthelemy’s authentic-looking production design. Watch especially for the ways that the love-hate relationship between characters played by Tahar Rahim and Niels Arestrup play out.

Rated R. 154 minutes. © 2009 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

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Harvey Karten's Reviews

A Prophet

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