Plot Summary :
Nineteen year-old Franco-Arab Malik El Djebena is just starting his six year prison sentence in Brécourt. Although he has spent the better part of his life in juvenile detention, this stint is his first in an adult prison. Beyond the division of Corsicans and Muslims in the prison (the Corsicans who with their guard connections rule what happens in the prison), he has no known friends or enemies inside. He is just hoping to serve his time in peace and without incident, despite having no prospects once he's out of jail since he's illiterate and has no support outside of the prison. Due to logistics, the head of Corsican inmates, a sadistic mafioso named César Luciani, co-opts Malik as part of the Corsicans' activities, not only regarding what happens inside the prison, but also continued criminal activities outside. The innocent Malik has no idea what to do but cooperate. This move does not sit well with the other Corsicans, who only see Malik as a dirty Arab, and the Muslims who now mistrust him. But as time goes on, Malik works to save himself while in prison, while setting up his life post prison on his own terms. Both his demon and his salvation in prison is the specter of one of the first people he really got to know during his incarceration,
My Analysis :
The movie presents a very deep wide critical aspect of modern culture complexities.
-First. it's a wise image of new-age mob culture ; the professional connections are pretty well depicted.Unlike old fashion gangster type Family honor,Faith ,Lyalties,...modern age gang follows hazy streaks .It's not easy to find principles behind orders.
-Second. it's an intelligent picture of social-ethnical conflicts as the protaganost Malik is suspended between arab-corsican malevolent division.Malik experiences a severe identity crisis.As he serves for a corsican crime organization he feels the hateful attitude of the members.
-Third. Morality : i think Malik is introduced as a person thrown to modern life scene before forming any kind of faith or moral system which is allegorically pointed out by the jailer .Malik is morally blank and obviously in prison the main priority is survival at any cost. It's astonishing a person like Malik with his morally blank, experiences fuzzy consciousness about murdering another arab prisoner (named Reyeb).The task is absolutely brutal and Malik tries different tricks to avoid it.I believe the Audiard is absolutely sucessful showing a man struggling not to exit the circle of humanity.Finally Malik found himself powerless ,surrendered by ruthless boss Luciani.
Luciani's inmates control almost everything in the prison.In this mobster underworld Right and Wrong decision making is next to nothing.That's what Malik bitterly studies .
-Fourth. Prison vs An Effective Rehabilitation Program:
6 years of prison sentence makes Malik a mobster boss .There's a memorable sequence in which the officers give back Malik his pre-jail assets...
6 years of incarceration made a fully-authorizer gang boss out of Malik.
Awards:
-Won Grand Prize Of The Jury Cannes Film Festival 2009
-In home country the movie was nominated record-tying of 13 cesar awards and eventually won 9.
-Nominated for the best foreign language film Oscar 2010.
Conclusion :
a solid performance , and one of the best movies i watched in these years
Pedram
August 22 2010
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