February 14, 2010  Un Prophete  A Prophet is the latest film
from Jacques Audiard. Set in a French prison, we follow the
career of the petty criminal Malik as he comes to prison, joins
the prison hierarchy, spins off into aiding Corsican
independence fighters, trading drugs and learning how to read.
Malik interracts with a series of other characters- Luciano, the
leader of the Corsican gangsters, his friend and 'brother' Ryad,
the prison guards, the Corsican independence fighters, corrupt
lawyers, charitable Imams, the Muslim organisations within the
Jail and most importantly the imagined Reyeb. There is even a
reference to the current French President, Nicholas Sarkozy,
from whose version of the Dark Department comes the order which
changes the plot of the film completely. But back to the subject
of the film, this film is centered on Malik- the camera stalks
him through his career- as he uses to days off to sell drugs and
murder, as he passes through the corridors and the clanging
doors of the jail. We see h