The Grand Prix winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and France’s entry into the Foreign Language category at the 2010 Oscar Awards, A Prophet follows wayward Arab youth Malik as he struggles to adapt to and survive the harsh realities of prison life. As the years pass, Malik begins to educate himself ultimately managing to challenge the prison’s power structure and constructing an empire of his own.
Reviews
“A tough, absorbingly intricate account of a young French-Arab thug’s improbable education behind bars. Applying his jangly aesthetic to a broader canvas than usual, Audiard navigates his protagonist through a grotty, at times overcrowded labyrinth of racially divided gang factions and roughly sketched-in crooks and cons […] this is solid, sinewy pulp fiction” Justin Chang, Variety
“A Prophet works both as hard-edged, painstaking detailed social realism and as a compelling genre entertainment.” Jonathan Romney, Screen International
“A riveting story ****” Scotland on Sunday
Awards
Cannes Film Festival ’09 – WINNER
– Grand Prize of the Jury (Jacques Audiard)
BFI 53rd London Film Festival ’09 – WINNER
– Best Film