REVIEW: A Prophet

Un Prophète (A Prophet) (dir. Jacques Audiard, 2009) *****

reviewed by David Sugarman

France’s nominee for the 82nd Academy Awards is, simply put, one of the most brutal, visceral films I have ever laid my eyes on. It is also one of the most thrilling. Acclaimed director Jacques Audiard (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) delivers a hybrid prison-gangster film of incredible power, as young Arabic criminal Malick (Tahar Rahim) works his way up the ladder of power in a French prison, taken under the (often racially abusive) wing of the Corsican mafia who run the prison.

The title of the film suggests something hugely transcendental, and A Prophet is certainly that. Almost as soon as he arrives at the jail, Malick is co-opted into the murder of a fellow inmate by the Corsicans, and the messy, bloody, shocking violence rattles the youth and audience alike. It’s an act that will haunt Malick for the rest of the movie, but one that strengthens him and its the spectre of this assassination that gives the film that final edge to make it A Great Movie. The baseline of the film that allows it to work so effectively is Tahar Rahim’s fantastic performance as Malick, shifting from shuffling, meek subordinate to smooth, confident career criminal. The winner of last year’s Grand Prix at Cannes technically counts as a 2009 release, and thus deprives me of the pleasure of calling it the first perfect film of the new decade; instead, I’ll name it one of the last of the previous.

—————————————

I may post some more reviews soon. Shutter Island or Precious: Based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire will likely be next.

David