Un prophète

Condemned to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena, part Arab, part Corsican, cannot read or write. Arriving at the jail entirely alone, he appears younger and more fragile than the other convicts. He is 19 years old. Cornered by the leader of the Corsican gang currently ruling the prison, he is given a number of "missions" to carry out, toughening him up and gaining the gang leader's confidence in the process. Malik is a fast learner and rises up the prison ranks, all the while secretly devising his own plans.

The scene that has really had tongues waging is the razor scene. The scene itself and also the build up to the events around the razor are great, and the tension and execution of the scene is never really eclipsed, thoughout the movie.

The visual flourishes including an effect of partial sight, ghost and dream styles that are also well done.

At two and a half hours the story doesn’t have enough expansion to warrant the epic gangster length.
Also a film poster blurb has quoted that the film is 'Scarface' meets 'The Godfather', these blurs are normally just cheap marketing tricks to bring the right audience to watch the film, also as the film is French attempts to bring more people into subtitled films. But that is an issue with 'Un prophete' the film is very similar in it back bone story line and is ultimately the mixture of these two classic gangster films.

Still a good central performance and enough visual flair, makes Un prophète one of the stand out crime dramas of the year.