A Prophet (2009)

Posted by moviegeek916 on September 13, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

A Prophet (2009) — The film is a fucking great crime epic that is better than Scarface but will likely not enjoy the same popularity due to the fact that most people who revere Scarface don’t seem smart enough to be able to read subtitles (for the record, I fucking dig Scarface I just don’t see Tony as a role model like a bunch of idiots do). The film follows Malik (Tahar Rahim), a young French Arab imprisoned for assault who quickly falls in with the Corsican mob as personified by the ferocious Cesar (a scene-stealing Niels Arestrup).  Soon Malik becomes one of the integral figures in the prison moving between the world of the Corsicans and the Arabs while making some moves of his own.  Some of the differences between the French and American prison systems were startling to me (they get work release days?!?!?) but the story was brutal and gripping from start to finish.  Jacques Audiard’s film aspires to a Goodfellas-like scale and hits it out of the park.  C’est un film magnifique.

Filed under Film, Old Facebook Minireviews · Tagged with 2009, A Prophet, Best of 2009, France, Goodfellas, Jacques Audiard, Niels Arestrup, prison, Scarface, Tahar Rahim, Un prophète