French director Jacques Audiard's prison drama has been a constant presence at awards ceremonies since it since it debuted at Cannes last year. It has also received a rapturous critical reception and is co-favourite with Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon to take home the Oscar statuette for Best Foreign Language film.
That the film has received such kudos is relatively easy to explain: it features a knockout central performance by relative newcomer Tahar Rahim as a young Arab who works his way to the top of the pile in a brutal French prison. It also broaches the question of race and the culture divide in a head-on manner: Arabs, Corsicans, Egyptians and Italians battle it out for supremacy within and without the prison confines. This in turns leads to a healthy dose of social realism, beloved of fans of auteur cinema the world over.
There is certainly a gripping and promising introduction as 19-year-old Malik is processed at the beginning of a six year sentence for an unspecified crime (possibly involving an attack on a police officer). With no friends on the inside - or on the outside - he becomes a pawn for the prison kingpin (an equally arresting performance by Niels Arestrup).
Malik's opening task for his new boss is brilliantly portrayed, and as the film progresses the small, grimy details of prison life come to the fore. But I was left with a slight sense of disappointment with the final product. Perhaps the hype was too much, but as the 155 minutes unfold, the film's flaws become all too evident.
There are one or two plot tricks which jar, and if you take away the skill behind the camera, the script really is a standard prison procedural: it's not particularly original and doesn't appear to have any 'greater' message to impart. It's certainly not in the same league as last year's Gomorra, which deals with broadly similar matters, and doesn't quite live up to the billing as one of the greatest prison dramas of all time. Nevertheless, there is much to admire.
Paul Hurley
