A Prophet

19 December 2022

Director: Jacques Audiard

See

Him: Un Prophete directed by Jacques Audiard is the story of Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) a French Algerian who at 19 enters a prison run by Corsicans and the Godfather figure of Cesar Luciani (Niels Astrup).

Her: A Prophet (Un Prophete) by Jacques Audiard - Story of Malik who gets imprisoned for 6 years at the age of 19, an uneducated orphan who quickly becomes a protege for a Cosican head of the prison gang called Cesar. He becomes the only non-Corsican member of the group which pushes him to constantly be working on proving himself to his counterparts.

Think

Him: At the onset Malik is a naive young man forced to murder another Arab. But despite being illiterate he learns Corsican, and how to wheel and deal between rival gangs insides and out of prison. Audiard’s style of magical realism exposition shows character development, as Malik learns to read and write French, how to subtly foresee things before they happen and angles for how to get ahead. This is my favourite French film, I appreciate what Audiard does, I also loved Rust and Bone and The Beat My Heart Skipped.

Her: It’s a very masculine film where females are almost not represented. I think Jacques Audiard is great in denouncing a wider social issues through a personal story of Malik - a young Muslim who doesn’t necessarily belong to the Muslim community while not being openly religious. His goal is to survive and learn lessons taught by his brief encounter with his victim whose murder allows him to receive protection of Cesar and becomes a part of the gang.

Feel

Him: Is this a criticism of the purpose of prison? Is it to rehabilitate or remove offenders from civil society. The result here is a young French Arab learns how to bustle and be a better class of cominal. A modern one who doesn’t need to use violence because his mind is his weapon. The most dangerous MBA you can get.

Her: Malik isn’t a hero. I didn’t find him particularly charismatic. He doesn’t do things that would deserve your respect as a viewer, but somehow in between the different scenes of murder and other mischiefs he grows in your eyes, so that by the end of the story you empathise with him and wish he finds a way to escape.