A Prophet

Impressions before seeing it
Recommended to me by a Flixster friend (Thanks, Jackie!) and it sounded interesting.

How was it?
Actually it wasn't what I was expecting from the description I'd read, but that's okay. Maybe the title threw me off, I thought there might be some "magical" charm to it, a la Life is Beautiful, and instead it was more like a version of The Godfather set in prison. I wasn't that big on The Godfather, but I liked this one a lot.

A Prophet is one of those movies that is an all-around well made effort. The acting is so seamless that it almost felt like a documentary, and the same goes for the story (with the exception of El Djebena's visions of a dead man). It's something that you can get right into without being pulled out of the experience, and that is always a plus in any movie. But I guess the real reason to watch is to follow El Djebena's character progression. When he first enters prison he seems almost innocent and moral (although prone to anger), but as he is forced into this world of prison gang wars he becomes more and more violent, arrogant, tyrannical, and sneaky, and most of it is hidden beneath a subservient performance as he works under his Corsican boss. Solid stuff.

Recommendation
Since A Prophet has a lot of mafia movie elements, you may love it if you're a fan of that genre, but then I am not and loved it anyway for being such a well made film. It's also a good one for those who are fascinated by prison life.