A Prophet

( 1 )

Overview

An impressionable and vulnerable Arabic man gets thrust into a hellish prison, and ironically discovers greater opportunities for success than he ever possessed outside of the bars, in this violent melodrama from French succès d'estime Jacques Audiard The Beat That My Heart Skipped. Tahar Rahim stars as Malik El Djebena, a petty criminal incarcerated for six years. Once inside and subjected to all of the standard brutalities that most prisoners endure, he is quickly educated in the "ways" of the prison, an ...
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Overview

An impressionable and vulnerable Arabic man gets thrust into a hellish prison, and ironically discovers greater opportunities for success than he ever possessed outside of the bars, in this violent melodrama from French succès d'estime Jacques Audiard The Beat That My Heart Skipped. Tahar Rahim stars as Malik El Djebena, a petty criminal incarcerated for six years. Once inside and subjected to all of the standard brutalities that most prisoners endure, he is quickly educated in the "ways" of the prison, an institution torn violently between gangs of Corsicans and Arabs. The head Corsican thug, César Luciani Niels Arestrup, offers Malik an ultimatum: either he rubs out an Arab inmate named Reyeb Hichem Yacoubi, or he himself dies. Not only does Malik succeed with the hit, he earns the begrudging respect of the other prisoners, and -- after securing several days' release for good behavior -- uses off-time to forge a deeper and more multi-layered network of criminal ties than he ever dreamed possible. But as his own power and confidence grow, they threaten to outstrip César's own insistence on submission and obedience at all costs.
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Special Features

Delve into the criminal underworld with commentary; Deleted scenes; Rehearsal footage
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Perry Seibert
Most prison movies dredge up drama from the horrific institutionalized brutality behind bars, and while Jacques Audiard's crime drama A Prophet never shies away from the cruelty of an inmate's life, it focuses on much more than just that. The film stars Tahar Rahim as Malik, a 19-year-old Arab just beginning a six-year stretch in a French prison. He is without friends on the inside, and quickly comes under the thumb of leonine Corsican tough-guy César Niels Arestrup, who orders Malik to kill a fellow inmate or be killed himself. After completing the task, Malik is haunted by visions of the man he murdered, but he also sets about taking classes in order to educate himself. As his complicated relationship with César evolves, the older man starts trusting Malik with more and more dangerous missions, including delivering information and money to people on the outside after Malik earns the right to take day trips away from the jail. All the while, Malik begins laying down the criminal network he will need to survive once he leaves the joint. What elevates A Prophet above most other prison films are its structure and its protagonist. The movie is paced like a novel, with chapters that slowly build tension, rather than a series of events that hurtle toward a climactic prison break or riot. This is first and foremost a character study, and Malik -- shunned by fellow Arabs for being with the Corsicans, but never earning the respect of the Corsicans because he's Arab -- is a character worth studying. He's smart, though not well-educated; capable of violence; interested in sex but not love when it comes to women; and capable of supreme loyalty and self-sacrifice for men who have shown him the same. There are religious elements to the story that might not translate to non-Arab viewers, but that hardly gets in the way of the film's powerful narrative grasp. As Malik learns to negotiate the complicated series of payoffs and favors he must perform to keep various factions within the prison from harming him, we get an understanding of why, for this character, rehabilitation doesn't exactly mean leaving a criminal life behind. He's a survivor, and we see how he learns to be a better criminal while arguably becoming a better man at the same time. Malik changes substantially during his time in lockup, and Tahar Rahim signals those changes in very physical ways that range from his posture to his stride to the hardening of his facial features. He's matched well by Arestrup -- who comes off like a Corsican Ray Winstone. He's fearsome, forceful, and seemingly unstoppable -- the kind of bad guy who makes you root for Malik even when our hero still shows signs of being someone we ourselves would fear. And it is Rahim's spectacular and remarkably unshowy performance that keeps us riveted to this compelling and unflinching look at how prison can change someone.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 8/3/2010
  • UPC: 043396343566
  • Original Release: 2009

    • Rating:

  • Source: Sony Pictures
  • Region Code: 1
  • Presentation: Wide Screen / Subtitled / Dubbed
  • Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
  • Time: 2:35:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 22,400

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Tahar Rahim Malik El Djebena
Niels Arestrup Cesar Luciani
Adel Bencherif Ryad
Reda Kateb Jordi, Jordi le gitan
Hichem Yacoubi Reyeb
Jean-Philippe Ricci Vettorri
Gilles Cohen Prof
Antoine Basler Pilicci
Leila Bekhti Djamila
Pierre Leccia Sampierro
Foued Nassah Antaro
Jean-Emmanuel Pagni Santi
Frederic Graziani Chef detention
Slimane Dazi Lattrache
Technical Credits
Jacques Audiard Director, Screenwriter
Michel Barthelemy Art Director, Production Designer
Thomas Bidegain Screenwriter
Abdel Raouf Dafri Screenwriter
Alexandre Desplat Score Composer
Marc Doisne Sound/Sound Designer
Stephane Fontaine Cinematographer
Jean-Paul Hurier Sound/Sound Designer
Virginie Montel Costumes/Costume Designer
Frederique Ney Makeup
Serge Onteniente Asst. Director
Nicolas Peufaillit Screenwriter
Richard Rousseau Costumes/Costume Designer
Brigitte Taillandier Sound/Sound Designer
Brigitte Tailllandier Sound/Sound Designer
Francis Wargnier Sound/Sound Designer
Juliette Welfling Editor
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Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Prophet
1. Chapter 1 [5:46]
2. Chapter 2 [5:16]
3. Chapter 3 [5:00]
4. Chapter 4 [6:54]
5. Chapter 5 [6:40]
6. Chapter 6 [4:10]
7. Chapter 7 [3:53]
8. Chapter 8 [4:07]
9. Chapter 9 [7:19]
10. Chapter 10 [5:52]
11. Chapter 11 [6:38]
12. Chapter 12 [6:59]
13. Chapter 13 [5:04]
14. Chapter 14 [7:17]
15. Chapter 15 [3:29]
16. Chapter 16 [7:38]
17. Chapter 17 [:26]
18. Chapter 18 [3:54]
19. Chapter 19 [4:08]
20. Chapter 20 [7:15]
21. Chapter 21 [6:05]
22. Chapter 22 [6:06]
23. Chapter 23 [6:48]
24. Chapter 24 [4:11]
25. Chapter 25 [4:29]
26. Chapter 26 [4:01]
27. Chapter 27 [3:16]
28. Chapter 28 [2:48]
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Menu

Disc #1 -- Prophet
   Play Movie
   Languages
      Subtitles: English
      Subtitles: English Subtitled Commentary
      Subtitles: Spanish
      Subtitles: Spanish Subtitled Commentary
      Subtitles: Portuguese
      Subtitles: Portuguese Subtitled Commentary
      Subtitles: Off
      Audio: French
      Audio: Spanish
      Audio: Portuguese
   Scene Selections
   Special Features
      Commentary With Director Jacques Audiard, Actor Tahar Rahim and Co-Writer Thomas Bidegain - On
      Commentary With Director Jacques Audiard, Actor Tahar Rahim and Co-Writer Thomas Bidegain - Off
      Deleted Scenes
         Play All
         Reyeb the Ghost
         Jordi the Gypsy
         Ryad
         César
      Rehearsal Footage
         Play All
         Tahar Rahim & Adel Bencherif Rehearsal Footage
         Tahar Rahim & Gilles Cohen Rehearsal Footage #1
         Tahar Rahim & Gilles Cohen Rehearsal Footage #2
      Screen Tests
         Play All
         Tahar Rahim Screen Test #1
         Tahar Rahim Screen Test #2
         Tahar Rahim Screen Test #3
         Tahar Rahim Screen Test #4
         Tahar Rahim Screen Test #5
      Theatrical Trailer
      Previews
         Micmacs
         The Secret in Their Eyes
         Get Low
         The White Ribbon
         Please Give
         Wild Grass
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Customer Reviews

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