Apr 8 – Un prophète

This week’s movie won a staggering nine Césars (France’s equivalent of the Oscar) out of 13 nominations. It also nabbed an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film. It’s a smart crime movie that follows a decent man’s incremental descent into willful, coldhearted crime.

After many stints in youth detention, illiterate, 19-year-old Malik, a French Arab, begins a six year sentence in an adult prison where rival Corsican and Muslim gangs are at war. Malik has no known friends or enemies inside; He just hopes to serve his time without incident. The Corsican boss, a sadistic mafioso named César Luciani, has other plans. He co-opts Malik into a serious criminal act. The innocent Malik can think of no alternative but to cooperate. This doesn’t sit well with the other Corsicans, who see Malik as a dirty Arab; nor with the Muslims, who now mistrust him. But from these unpromising beginnings, Malik fashions a remarkable career, inside and outside the prison.

UN PROPHÈTE plays one show only, 7 p.m., April 8, at the Empire Theatres Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney. It is the second-to-last film of our winter-spring season.