A Prophet (France, 2009)
It is hard to say whether anyone who gets a six-year bid is innocent but compared to the rest of the prisoners in A Prophet, Malik defines innocence. The narrative system is displayed so well in this film from the Corsicans’ threat to kill him all the way to Malik’s full-blown transformation as a gangster. The character is a perfect specimen for a hustler. He came into jail already with nothing to lose. A young illiterate crook who does not have family or even a background works his way up through connections in the system followed by his own betrayal and deception to become the head honcho of a crime syndicate.
The character has nothing to live for in the beginning. He wants to survive, and he is not motivated, until the Corsicans approach him. Now the story is in motion. As Malik spends years learning the craft and life of a gangster, he is taking notes. Which is truly what all gangster film heroes are doing. The gangsters that win are calm and cool like Vito and Michael Corleone. They lasted long because they kept their mouths shut and took notes.
The Hollywood gangster film, going back to films like Public Enemy and Little Caesar, all end with a dead hero or they end up in jail. That is okay because it teaches kids a lesson about the real life of hoodlums, but it is all the same. All the films are good, and they make the gangsters look super cool but most of the films end with the demise of the gangster. A Prophet does not even glorify the gangster. It is the gangster before he was a gangster. The film is good because of all the struggles that are involved with becoming one. In the three-act structure, every good movie has a great Act 2, an acceptable Act 1 and a good Act 3, but not great. (Great movies usually have three great Acts, but this movie is not great.) Throughout A Prophet the Act 2 shows all the kid’s hardships, and how he complies with the old Corsican until he decides to start an empire of his own. The film is a realization and the eventual success of the gangster. It is a unique take on the gangster story in that it starts from the very beginning as opposed to in medias res or with a voice over back story that follows the point of entry.
I still cannot remove the shot of Malik guarding his own body with a dead bodyguard and smiling up at the camera as bullets fly all around him. It is truly memorable. The film is an excellent take on the gangster story and is a well-established example of the three-act narrative system because of the obvious hero, his journey, the clear obstacles of survival, and an unusual happy ending for a gangster.
