Article:
A Prophet

Despite straining my eyes to read and follow every English subtitle in every dialogue in every scene, everything is well worth it. Jacques Audiard’s film “A Prophet” (Un prophète) really deserved the Grand Prix Award at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, as well as the Best Film Award at the 53rd London Film Festival. Apart from that, it also won the Prix Louis Delluc 2009; and I bet that it will definitely get the Best Foreign Film Award at the 82nd Academy Awards.

The story is actually simple. A young Arab named Malik El Djebena (played by Tahar Rahim) was sentenced to six years in prison. There, he learned to read and write, while at the same time learning the “trade” in being at prison. Like any other prison, this one has factions or groups. Prominent are the Corsican mafia group, led by César Luciani (played by Niels Arestrup), and the Arabs. Being a young man, he was forced to become one of Luciani’s troop, with the killing of one Arab (named Reyeb), as an initiation. Reyeb happened to be gay and wanted Malik to provide sexual services to him, hence the Corsicans saw an opportunity here, that’s why they picked on Malik.

Because Luciani technically “controls” the prison (with most guys on his “payroll”), Malik had no choice but to go for the kill. These scenes are really gruesome in a way, because to kill Reyeb, Malik will have to use a concealable weapon—which is only a blade. And guess where he has to hide it? In his mouth. Dang. Malik was even shown trying to practice in his cell; keeping the blade at the left or right side of his mouth and spitting it out for the quick kill.

I think I don’t need to elaborate how he killed Reyeb. But it was gruesome, and traumatizing. Even for Malik, who hasn’t really killed anyone, and who said initially that he didn’t really beat a cop (a crime he was accused and convicted of, as shown in the first part of the film when he is explaining himself to the warden or one officer of the guards who was questioning him).