Un Prophète (2009)

Directed by Jacques Audiard. Starring Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb, Jean-Philippe Ricci, Hichem Yacoubi, Leïla Bekhti, Slimane Dazi, Antoine Basler. [R]

While serving out a prison sentence, young, illiterate petty criminal Malik (Rahim) is forced to kill a snitch and become a drug trafficker for a ruthless Corsican mafioso (Arestup). A detailed, sometimes gripping gangster/prison drama which may follow a conventional narrative arc (it’s only a matter of time before the fool becomes and master and the tables are turned), but how it gets across the finish line offers up a few surprises and scintillating episodes of suspense. Stéphane Fontaine’s claustrophobic camerawork amazingly doesn’t let up even when Malik is granted 24-hour furloughs outside the prison walls, and director Audiard makes sure we know such momentary freedoms don’t diminish the danger or anxiety; his method of dense storytelling is less assured, but reasoning is less elusive than meaning. Rahim’s interior, reactive acting style grows on you, and Arestrup never seems to disappoint. Story by Abdel Raouf Dafri, who scripted with the director, as well as Thomas Bidegain and Nicolas Peufaillit.

79/100