A French film, A Prophet follows Malik, an Frenchman of Arabic decent. At 19, Malik is sentenced to six years in a prison divided between Arabs and Corsicans. Through a twist of fate, Malik becomes involved with the powerful Corsicans, and through the film rises through their ranks, before eventually taking control of his own fate.
A Prophet is a gritty prison film, but at it's heart it is also a coming of age movie. Malik enters the prison and the film as a nervous, naive boy; as the years pass prison transforms him into a hardened criminal and survivor, loyal only to himself. It is his personal development, rather than his upward advancement through the French underworld, that is the driving force of the movie. Tahar Rahim is convincing as Malik, but Niels Arestrup is outstanding as the frightening, then deteriorating Corsican leader Cesar Luciani. Shaky-cam, so often obnoxious, is used subtlety enough to create a personal, visceral feeling. A Prophet is a long movie, and at times loses momentum in the middle, but it picks up speed again towards the end. The movie, alongside Malik, creeps up on you slowly. It's well worth the watch.
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