Outside Event

A few months ago in October I went back home to Portland, Oregon where I went to a screening of the 2009 French film A Prophet at the Living Room Theater. The film was very well received with an oscar nomination for best foreign film, and it won the grand prix at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival among other awards. The movie is centered around a poor un-educated nineteen year old French boy of African descent who is sentenced to six years in prison and his gradual rises to power during his sentence. Unlike most other prison movies that I've seen that focus mostly on offering commentary and criticism for justice systems like in Cool Hand Luke and Birdman of Alcatraz, A prophet instead uses this setting and narrative device to discuss the issue of hybrid identity in France. The director of the film named Jacques Audiard even states that the goal of his film was to “[create] icons, images for people who don't have images in movies, like the Arabs in France.” In representing this unseen ethnic minority and criminal element within society, Audiard seeks to bring out the nationalities and criminal identities that France would rather sweep under the rug and ignore.

Though films like Im July and Flores de Otro Mundo rightly present some benefits from hybridized identity, A Prophet also details some negative externalities for having a multi-ethnic national identity because majorities will assert their dominance over the minorities. In this class, we have spent a lot of time about discussing questions and conflicts arising from shared national identities especially through the films of Lamerica and Zentropa. Lamerica presents hybridized identity as tragic through Gino's loss identity of his Italian identity, and A Prophet demonstrates another problem with shared identity because in a country with many multi-ethnic identities, minority groups are always pushed towards the periphery of society where they can only achieve and get ahead by wrong doing. This is exemplified in the main character named Malik El Djebena's (Tahar Rahim) whose African descent and criminal identity work together to define him as an outsider. This happens because French society is biased against prisoners like Malik and much of France is distrustful of foreigners. Thus society would not allow Malik a legitimate place in an honest job due to his outsider status, so he instead seeks advancement in crime which is an avenue that French society deems appropriate for foreigners and convicts. Rather than fighting against this misconception against prisoners and foreigners, Malik supports and embodies this stereotype by becoming a successful criminal. If France was more accepting of their multi-ethnic national identity, people like Malik would not be forced into the periphery and instead be allowed to enter into society to try their luck working in a traditional French occupation and lifestyle.

Analysis aside, I really enjoyed watching this movie. The story was great, and I was entranced by Malik's character and his story chronicling his gradual uprise to becoming an underworld boss. It's fascinating to study him as he gradually transforms from a young, uneducated kid reluctant to do wrong to the end of the movie when he leaves prison as cutthroat and confident with a parade of cars offering him protection. Additionally, the side characters have interesting narratives of their own that add to the story's depth and enjoyment. One such story happens as Malik's friend is eager to commit crime in order to secure more money for his family before he dies from cancer, and the second happens as Malik's initial Corsican mob boss gradually loses control of the prison to the Arabs. I'm not sure if A Prophet is better than the Oscar winner for best foreign film because El Secreto En Sus Ojos was also a great film, but A Prophet is at least just as interesting and fun to watch. If you are in the mood for a compelling and dark prison story, do yourself a favor and watch it.