Cannes Grand Prix Winner A Prophet Wows at TIFF

Jacques Audiard Directs a Masterpiece in Un Prophète

Sep 18, 2009

French Director Jacques Audiard soars with his 2009 Cannes Grand Prix winner, A Prophet, screening at TIFF 2009.

A Prophet is a tremendous achievement for director Jacques Audiard. Cast with unfamiliar faces and filmed almost entirely in a monochromatic prison setting, this gripping story resonates far beyond the prison walls. The grim drama follows first-time actor Tahar Rahim as Malik, a penniless and illiterate young North African man who lands in a French prison and makes his way into the world of a Corsican gang.

Malik's initiation into prison life is brutal -- a beating and mugging in the yard. His initiation into the protective fold of the Corsican gang who run the prison is even more brutal - earned by committing a grisly murder. Prison brass turn a blind eye - they've long since been taking their orders from César, a Corsican kingpin who has bribed the power structure and runs the prison from his cell. To César, Malik is just another follower, to be used and abused at will.

Malik quickly learns that obedience means survival, and is dutiful in his servitude to César. Time passes and though he continues to treat Malik little better than a servant, he begins to rely on him and allows him to become a member of his inner-fold - even if his Arabic heritage marks him as a separate and lesser member.

The film's greatness comes in its measured pacing, compelling characters and the director's firm grip on the tensions bubbling at core of the story. Prison life is plenty violent, and in this film pain is delivered in plain, curt, brutal scenes. Performances are kept in quick check and the story's simmering drama resists boiling over into melodrama.

First-Time Actor Tahar Rahim Excels

There is no praise too high for Rahim, who has the camera trained closely on his face for much of the film's two hours-plus runtime. His Malik is quiet, watchful, and viewers come to realize, silently calculating - his the ultimate poker face as he quietly learns the ropes from his Corsican overlords. These alpha-dogs are played with a sure sense of entitlement and led by the terrific Niels Arestrup as César.

The tone of the story begins to shift as César's henchmen get transferred out of the prison. Suddenly vastly outnumbered by Arabic inmates, and without his own army of foot soldiers to protect him, César sees the power structure shifting, even if he refuses to acknowledge it. As ever, Malik watches. Acts quietly. Waits.

The film's dénouement - César is beaten on the prison yard as Malik looks on - is as simple and brutal as its beginning.

The copyright of the article Cannes Grand Prix Winner A Prophet Wows at TIFF in Film Festival Releases is owned by Cindy McGlynn. Permission to republish Cannes Grand Prix Winner A Prophet Wows at TIFF in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.