El Djebena, Malik. #35-114T. How a does a timid boy become a violent gangster? Like this. Sentenced to six years in prison, 19-year-old Malik has his sneakers stolen right off his feet during his first venture into the exercise yard. Caught between the Corsican and Arab-Muslim factions, Malik--a bilingual,
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El Djebena, Malik. #35-114T. How a does a timid boy become a violent gangster? Like this. Sentenced to six years in prison, 19-year-old Malik has his sneakers stolen right off his feet during his first venture into the exercise yard. Caught between the Corsican and Arab-Muslim factions, Malik--a bilingual, French-born Arab and non-observant Muslim--winds up being seen by the Corsicans as an Arab and by the Arabs as a Corsican. To survive, Malik works as an errand boy for the sinister Corsican crime boss who dominates the prison, César Luciani. Malik's intelligence comes to his aid--before long, he can speak to (or eavesdrop on) everyone in the prison. He does what he must to survive, including studying his boss carefully, warily making and then implementing his own plans. When Malik emerges from prison he is a man of the new Europe--albeit a criminal--a polite, industrious, and thoroughly self-made man.
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Additional Contributors:
Audiard, Jacques
Bidegain, Thomas
Dafri, Abdel Raouf
Peufaillit, Nicolas
Caucheteux, Pascal
Raynaud, Alix
Cherqui, Marco
Bourrachot, Lauranne
Rahim, Tahar
Arestrup, Niels
Bencherif, Adel
Kateb, Reda
Yacoubi, Hichem
Ricci, Jean-Philippe
Cohen, Gilles
Leccia, Pierre
Basler, Antoine
Nassah, Foued
Pagni, Jean-Emmanuel
Graziani, Frederic
Fontaine, Stéphane
Welfling, Juliette
Desplat, Alexandre
Barthélémy, Michel
Imprint:
[Paris] : Culver City, CA - Why Not Productions , Distributed in the US by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Language:
French, Portuguese, and
Spanish
Other language:
In French, dubbed Spanish or Portuguese with optional subtitles in English, Spanish, or Portuguese
Awards & Distinctions:
Winner, 2009 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize of the Jury--Jacques Audiard ; 2010 César Awards (France) for Meilleurs décors [Best Production Design]--Michel Barthélémy; Meilleur montage [Best Editing]--Juliette Welfling; Meilleure photographie [Best Cinematography]--Stéphane Fontaine; Meilleur scénario original [Best Writing-Original]--Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit; Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle [Best Supporting Actor]--Niels Arestrup; Meilleur espoir masculin [Most Promising Actor] and Meilleur acteur [Best Actor]--Tahar Rahim; Meilleur réalisateur [Best Director]--Jacques Audiard; Meilleur film [Best Film]--Pascal Caucheteux (produceur), Grégoire Sorlat (produceur), Marco Cherqui (produceur), Jacques Audiard (director) ; 2010 BAFTA Film Award for Best Film Not in the English Language--Pascal Caucheteux, Marco Cherqui, Alix Raynaud, Jacques Audiard
Credits:
Image [cinematography], Stephane Fontaine ; montage [editor], Juliette Welfling ; musique originale, Alexandre Desplat ; decors [production design], Michel Barthelemy ; costumes, Virginie Montel ; conseillers technique [technical advisors], Jean-Michel Correia, Erick Aouchard ; traduction et rèpétitions en corse, Danièlle Giorico ; traduction en arabe, Okacha Touita, Orphèe Salvy-Guide ; translated by Andrew Litvack.
Performers:
Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb, Hichem Yacoubi, Jean-Philippe Ricci, Gilles Cohen, Pierre Leccia, Antoine Basler, Foued Nassah, Jean-Emmanuel Pagni, Frederic Graziani.
Notes:
DVD; Region 1; 5.1 Dolby digital sound; anamorphic widescreen presentation, 1.85:1 aspect ratio
D'après une idée originale de [After an original idea by] Abdel Raouf Dafri
Special features: Commentary with director Jacques Audiard, actor Tahar Rahim and co-writer Thomas Bidegain [audio feature]; Deleted scenes (11 min.); Rehearsal footage (9 min.); Screen tests (5 min.); Theatrical trailer (2 min.); Previews (8 min.)
Originally produced as a French motion picture in 2009
DVD, widescreen; Dolby digital 5.1
Statement of responsibility:
Sony Pictures Classics ; Chic Films, Page 114, Why Not Productions présentent ; une coproduction Why Not Productions, Chic Films, Page 114, France 2 Cinema, UGC Images, BIM Distribuzione, Celluloid Dreams ; avec la participation de France2, Canal+, CineCinema, Centre national de la cinématographie ; un film de Jacques Audiard ; scénario, Thomas Bidegain et Jacques Audiard ; d'après un scenario original de Abdel Raouf Dafri et Nicolas Peufaillit ; producers, Pascal Caucheteux, Alix Raynaud, Marco Cherqui, Lauranne Bourrachot
Characteristics:
1 videodisc (155 min.) :,sd., col. ;,4 3/4 in.
Other author misc:
[Audiard, Jacques, Bidegain, Thomas, Dafri, Abdel Raouf, 1964- aut aus, Peufaillit, Nicolas, Caucheteux, Pascal, Raynaud, Alix, Cherqui, Marco, Bourrachot, Lauranne, Rahim, Tahar, 1981- act, Arestrup, Niels, Bencherif, Adel, Kateb, Reda, Yacoubi, Hichem, Ricci, Jean-Philippe, Cohen, Gilles, Leccia, Pierre, Basler, Antoine, Nassah, Foued, Pagni, Jean-Emmanuel, Graziani, Frederic, Fontaine, Stéphane, Welfling, Juliette, Desplat, Alexandre, Barthélémy, Michel, Sony Pictures Classics (Firm), Chic Films, Page 114 (Firm), Why Not Productions Inc, France 2 cinéma (Firm), UGC Images (Firm), BIM Distribuzione, Celluloid Dreams (Firm), France 2, Studio Canal+, Cinécinéma (Firm), Centre national de la cinématographie (France), Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (Firm)]
Call number:
Fre DVD MOVIE P
Topical term:
[Prisons, Murder, Extortion, Prison gangs, Drug traffic, Prisons, Prison psychology, Young men, Male friendship, French language, Presos, Motion pictures, French, Foreign language films, Motion pictures]
Publisher number:
[34356, 35789]
Publisher source:
[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment]
Other standard identifier:
043396343566
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Comment
Add a CommentThis prison/gangster drame is long at 2.5 hours. Acting by the young actor playing Malik, the 19-year old thrown into prison for some petty crime, was excellent. Plenty of violence, sex and foul languages here. It is excellent contemporary French cinema. You do need patience to sit through the entire film to fully appreciate it.
Good acting, but overlong for the prison story.
Intense, riveting, excellent - once watched, you won't forget it...may not be everybody's "cup of tea" - very raw.
Foreign prison/gangster movie. Very realistic and brutal at times. I wanted to like it more than I did, but something was just missing for me. Felt overlong and underwhelming at times. The acting was pretty good, but there was never really a turning point or a feeling of closure to me. I think there were good concepts that just got lost in the shuffle of too many loose ends and plot points.
This is a great film. It is about a young man who is thrown into jail with nothing and graduates with an education in crime and life. It was a bit long, but kept me engaged the entire time. Great movie.
This movie is fast paced (especially for two and a half hours) and involving. It's well written and executed with great visual flare with some impressive direction. The acting is all top notch, and while this film is very violent it is not hard to watch. Although this one is definitely not for the faint of heart, as it is a very dark and somewhat disturbing tale. I would not compare this to the Godfather franchise in any way as several reviewers have done, but I would recommend this to fans of the Godfather and other gangster movies.
I find that it cannot be compared to the classic "God Father"
Must See – A Prophet (2009) 155 min. Incredibly interesting portrayal of gangster life inside a French prison pitting Middle Eastern Muslims and the Corsican mafia. Our young hero played beautifully by Tahar Rahim elicits our sympathy throughout as he has to do certain things completely against his will. This quality alone sets it apart from other films of this nature. Though realistic and thought provoking, the film also contains some horrific violent scenes; just a warning.
The overall quality of acting and story lines are believable and good. Some extreme graphic violent scenes make this movie not suitable to large audience of all age groups.