A Prophet

More than anything else, however, director Jacques Audiard's gritty, grab-you-by-the-shirtfront film is a mob movie -- a really, really good mob movie. Think "GoodFellas," but with Gauloises and accent aigu instead of plates of spaghetti and accent Pesci.

The best performance in the film is by Arestrup as Cesar. You may remember him from Audiard's "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" (2005), where he played a seedy but confident father who psychically overshadows his son.

Uncompromising in its style, story and characterizations.

Strip away the French and Arabic subtitles, the French-prison setting and the Muslim-messianic title, and A Prophet, opening Friday at The Enzian, would still be the grittiest prison thriller in years.

Though less pleasurably offbeat than the helmer’s well-received “Read My Lips” and “The Beat That My Heart Skipped,” this is solid, sinewy pulp fiction.

A modern French crime epic where the smudges and crossings out do not diminish the passages of great dreamlike power.

A compelling piece of naturalistic filmmaking, claustrophobic and thought-provoking.

This film is excellent and possibly one of the most powerful crime dramas i've ever seen. Without giving away details of the plot, i will say that the acting goes a long way in lending the movie its impact, especially from Niels Arestrup as the aging corsican mob boss who evokes pathos and hostility in equal measure. The direction by Jacques Audiard is sure-handed, and the film works both as a thriller and an intimate human drama. Not to be missed by anyone with a love for movies

What is really great about this movie, is the simplicity of it. An Arabian man who is sentenced to six years in prison soon is confronted by a Corsican gang who gives him several tasks to do, soon becoming a ruthless gang member, and he can't even read or write.There is this sense of immense greatness toward Malik who is only 19 years old and seems like the only nice guy who won't shoot an inmate. And the Corsican gang seems to be his only refuge, even if he doesn't like it. The plot is simply told, not through verbal communication, but in several instances where the filmakers step you outside the movie and try to tell you, "This is Malik now." He soon becomes productive, and ruthless. He slowly rebuilds his life. A perfect crime drama that has things anybody could ask for in one.

Not sure what the problem is with me on this one, as "A Prophet" has all the makings of a film that I should truly love. The sweeping and ambitious narrative, the gritty feel, the terrific lead performances — where was I led astray? Somewhere amongst the film's 155-minute running time, I lost my grip on the protagonist's plight. It's not as though I wasn't paying attention or couldn't place what was going on from scene to scene. I simply found that my investment fell off a cliff after that incredible opening half-hour or so. Nothing ever matched the scene with Reyeb and the razor blade. I appreciated the experimental elements littered throughout, but honestly felt let down by the infrequency of their usage. Such was my overall experience with "A Prophet," a movie that has undeniably impressive elements within it, but ultimately didn't align with my tastes as much as I hoped it would.

Well, the movie lacks plausibility. Probably, idk, 40 years ago things could have been like that: getting away with manslaughter like it's nothing, gangs running the prison, ... but nowadays that is not possible anymore (at least not on those extent). This is mostly why "The Godfather" was a good movie and this is definitely not. Since the premises are, again, entirely unrealistic for the movie's time-setting, I wasn't able to enjoy the movie itself because it was just nonsense after nonsense, piling one another. Finally, the movie carries a bad message, won't spoil the ending, but well, that's a bad message on whichever angle you want to see it.

This movie is amazingly overrated. People are comparing it to godfather and goodfellas. Well, in sport of those great gangster films, "a prophet" didn't give me that tingle that those other films did. It wasn't anything special and i could've gone without it. i watched it on blu ray and it was really long. i usually love long films but they have to keep me interested. i couldn't keep focus with this film. i'm guessing i need to watch it more than once to understand it. it was good but not amazing like so many are saying.