Once Upon a Crime

On the surface, Oscar-nominated A Prophet is a French prison drama. Malik is a young man of Arab descent who can't read or write. He finds himself in jail and must navigate the power hierarchies of his cellmates. Malik undergoes a metamorphosis, surviving an Oz-like hazing and developing his own...

By Amanda McCorquodale

March 25, 2010

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On the surface, Oscar-nominated A Prophet is a French prison drama. Malik is a young man of Arab descent who can't read or write. He finds himself in jail and must navigate the power hierarchies of his cellmates. Malik undergoes a metamorphosis, surviving an Oz-like hazing and developing his own position of power in the criminal world.

Although critics have called it a Gallic Goodfellas, the director, Jacques Audiard, has said A Prophet is the anti-Scarface. Audiard used actual ex-cons as advisors on the production in order to strike the right gritty chord. There are the requisite scenes of bloody shootouts and gory prison violence. But Malik is a moral antihero in the amoral subculture of prison. Through Malik's transformation, Audiard makes audiences question their empathy. Dostoevsky couldn't have done it better. A Prophet won the Grand Prix at the 2009 Cannes.
Sun., April 4, 5 p.m., 2010

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