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Sight & Sound Special Screening
“Un Prophéte”

Saturday 24th October Vue 5
Monday 26th October Vue 5

UK Release 15th January 2010*
Limited US Release 12th February 2010*

It is very rare that I would get up on a Saturday before 12 in the afternoon, let alone trudge down to Central London for a screening at half-nine in the morning, but, although overcome with weariness and slumber, Jacques Audriard’s “Un Prophéte” was a screening I simply could not pass.

“Un Prophéte” offers a hard-edged inside-analysis of the changing ethnic power struggle within the French prison system, and caught in the middle of this microcosm of tension and conflict is North African teenager Malik el Djebena (newcomer Tahar Rahim). Initially estranged from both the Corsican and Islamic prison communities, chance and unfavorable attention from isolated prisoner Reyeb (Yacoubi) – who offers Malik drugs for sex, quickly makes Malik a prisoner of interest to the dominant Corsican inmates and their leader, Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup). Forced to dispose of a mild nuisance to the Corsicans, Malik is made entrusted servant to the clan yet continuously reminded of his Arab outsider status. “Un Prophéte” is Malik’s story, his rise through the criminal ranks to become a formidable player in both a changing prison system, and a changing society.

Largely featuring a cast of non-professional males, Audiard moves between modern social realism and enigmatic dreamlike ‘prophecy’ sequences. Although some dreamlike sequences are indulgent and jar with the stark realism, Audiard must be praised for his scrupulous detail on the politics of prison life. However, the film is carried by newcomer Tahar Rahim, whose performance is reminiscent of Pacino’s Michael in “The Godfather”, albeit without the sophistication but bursting with the same embodiment of innocence, conscious struggle and violence. It is through Rahim that Malik’s amoral path towards survival is entirely understandable and sympathetic. While Niels Arestrup (who also appeared in Audriard’s “The Beat that My Heart Skipped”) is equally menacing yet vulnerable as head of the Corsican clan, Luciani.

“Un Prophéte” is a powerhouse of a film; it is gritty, unflinching and, at times, unbearable. However, I found myself twitching to check my watch because the 150 plus minutes is far too long for a film, furthermore the strength and intensity of the half hour isn’t carried through into the second half. And at half-nine in the morning, I found it difficult to keep up with the narrative’s complexities, and spent half the time circumnavigating between a cacophony of Italian, Corsican or Arabic languages (plus being unable to read the subtitles doesn’t help either, I’m only 5’4 (and a half)). But you don’t need to be multi-lingual to understand or enjoy this film, the action alone speaks volumes and, when I’m wide awake, makes for compulsive viewing. Audriard’s film is a timely and forceful analysis of a changing society in transition.

* Subject to change