Language: French
Director: Jacques Audiard
Cast: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup
Genre: Crime/Drama (R rated)
France’s entry to 2010 Academy
Awards for the Best Movie in Foreign Language. In this movie, director Jacques
Audiard’s has portrayed the grim background of an innocent teenager who becomes
a hardened criminal in a span of 6 years in the prison.
The protagonist, Malik, played by
Tahar Rahim, tries to survive and fit into the prison culture and tries his
best to keep out of the two rival teams of the Corsicans and the Muslims. Malik,
a Frenchmen of Arab descent finds himself drawn into the hands of Cesar, a
hardened criminal who conducts all his dealings and business from the prison
premises, played by the cold Niels Arestrup. Malik tries to avoid getting into
the mess but is eventually spiraled to the core of the dirty game. He is a good
choice to break into the rival gang of the Muslims as he is an Arab. And the
Corsicans too find him hard to trust, as he is not one of their kin. This dual
advantage makes him a prime target of Cesar, who plans to gain the maximum.
The story of the movie is
fabulous. But, the thing I liked best is the director’s unwillingness to
divulge what the characters are thinking. He leaves it to the wisdom of the
viewers to decide what is going on in the mind. Unlike many movies where the
mind of the character is narrated or is let out through some other characters;
here the director keeps you guessing. And the subtlety with which many scenes
are projected leaves a mark indeed. The cinematography is also excellent. The murders
are gruesome, messy and horrific.
Many important details relating
to the plot are deliberately left out, e.g., the crime for which Malik is
convicted. Malik is shown to be innocent but the crime which he is convicted of
is a mystery. Another good thing to note is the condition of the prisons of
France. For authentic and real feel, previous convicts and parole convicts were
roped in by the director to play various roles and to set up the set. The
condition of the prison seems much better than the facilities we are provided
with in our country. Human Rights is given a good priority.
In fine, it is a good movie to
watch. Gripping 155 minutes of sensitive portraying of how our surroundings and
our environment shape us up.
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