The Gown – student newspaper at Queen's University Belfast.

REVIEW: A Prophet

‘A Prophet’ is the first crime thriller of 2010 and it’s already been deemed superior to the likes of ‘Mesrine’ and ‘Public Enemies’, films that raised the bar in the genre in 2009.  If you thought things couldn’t get any better, then prepare to be shaken-up by Audiard’s explosive insight into the French prison system.  At the tender age of 19 Malik is sentenced to 6years for police violence.  We follow him as he finds himself entering the strange and highly developed world of the professional criminal.

BY LAURA SHEARER

www.queensfilmtheatre.com

As much as modern crime cultures are complex, Audiard presents a very undercut and problematic prerogative in a shockingly interpretative manner.  The viewer is welcomed and delicately tempted right from the beginning of the film into seeing the unfolding events as relatively simple and even understandable to an extent.  Here it’s Audiard’s ability to present this predicament that’s a sure sign of talent as both writer and director, making his work a joy to watch as the narrative unfolds.

There’s definitely a touch of surrealism and strong hints towards the standard French New Wave cinema style, although this is expected from Audiard when considering his filmography (which includes the instant indie favourite ‘The Beat that my Heart Skipped’).  His artistic influences are a breath of fresh air for the ever popular Hollywood crime drama genre, allowing him to explore more of the criminal’s experiences than other films would perhaps have attempted to tackle.

The naturalistic camera movements keep our viewing of the world of the condemned to a brief minimal, but Audiard manages to use his fantastic techniques to suggest that there is much more than we could ever have expected to see already being shown.  The editing pace falters between rapid and an almost documentary style, impressively depicting both the respective thrilling action sequences and intimate moments that whisk the viewer away into the anti-realism before their eyes.

The resourcefulness of camera angles and footage shot in such a confined zone is one of the main draws of the film and what separates it from previous prison topical.  Audiard’s defined knowledge of the cinematic format is what keeps this film sharp with a sleek modern edge that ‘Mesrine’ introduced to the crime drama.  There are many references to the much loved crime thriller classics such as ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Blow’, but Audiard somehow manages to leave these resounding famous images untouched, and I’m sure that this is much appreciated by fans of the classics.  Audiard simply uses his knowledge of the crime thriller as a point to draw upon, cleverly developing the well known traditional notions of the criminal mind and giving us something hugely enjoyable and lushly creative.

The suspenseful secrecy that keeps the cogs of the prison machine turning is what drives Audiard’s visuals and what keeps his film that little step above the rest.  The plain view brutality is stark and bold throughout, but keeps the audience at a desired distance from the characters, as well as constantly drawing the viewer in, playing on their curiosity and encouraging them to demand more.  There’s definitely some odd pleasure in watching something that makes you both squirm and question what you’re seeing.  As far as thrillers go, it’s good enough, but in regard to the crime genre, Audiard has hit the ground running.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 3:14 pm and is filed under Arts + Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.