By Adam Bramwell
When a film is dubbed to be "As epic as The Godfather", and said to be one of the best films of 2009 (released here in 2010), I think it's only fair to go and give it a chance, despite the fact it's in French.
Firstly let's remind ourselves why The Godfather is one of the greatest films of all time. The stunning screenplay, gripping storyline and characters leave you thinking that the film was nothing short of magnificent. That being said, is "A Prophet" as epic? No. I know I shouldn't pay much attention to quotes such as this, but it's important to mention you're not necessarily getting what it says on the tin when watching this movie.
A Prophet is a very dark, dull, slow film that leaves you feeling quite exhausted. You're probably thinking "this makes it sound terrible", when in fact it is still a good film. The grittiness of the setting gives you a true feel of what you're meant to experience, because after all it is a crime drama/thriller which isn't supposed to be pleasant. Going into this film expecting a Hollywood masterpiece polished off and put on a plate for me to cherish with the likes of Goodfellas and Casino was always a bad idea.
The story behind the film is typical of a modern gangster film in that it's main character starts from the bottom and works to the top. Malik El Djebena is sentenced to 6 years in a French prison, and is immediately preyed upon by a Corsican Mafia group. Taking advantage of him, they order him to kill another prisoner with the opportunity of having their protection. However he does not have a choice, and once involved he is pressurised to carry it out, so decides to use his intelligence to work his way up and typically have the high power. Without giving too much away, the storyline is relatively straight forward and obvious, even though you do tend to lose sense of who is who with the subtitles and the monotone speech throughout the film. This raises a problem I found when watching it. I didn't feel involved or emotional in any way towards the characters, perhaps with the exception of a graphic scene where Malik commits the murder with a razor blade, and his mental torture before and after. Perhaps this was due to it being in French, but I doubt this having seen "Oldboy". The film seemed to contain a lot of unnecessary shots and scenes on top of this, which didn't necessarily make me lose interest, but left me thinking "I'm not gripped". This to me is the major flaw in the film, but in a way this works to it's advantage, giving you a better insight and accurate take on a Mafia story .
The film gives you a great sense to what it would be like in a prison, and contains many elements of realism. Instead of being an epic thriller, the film is a dull drama. I can only wonder why the film was dubbed to be "One of the greatest crime films ever made". This confuses me, because if it was taken for what it really is, ironically, I'd consider it a better film.
IMDB Score: 8.2 My Score: 7.1
When a film is dubbed to be "As epic as The Godfather", and said to be one of the best films of 2009 (released here in 2010), I think it's only fair to go and give it a chance, despite the fact it's in French.
Firstly let's remind ourselves why The Godfather is one of the greatest films of all time. The stunning screenplay, gripping storyline and characters leave you thinking that the film was nothing short of magnificent. That being said, is "A Prophet" as epic? No. I know I shouldn't pay much attention to quotes such as this, but it's important to mention you're not necessarily getting what it says on the tin when watching this movie.
A Prophet is a very dark, dull, slow film that leaves you feeling quite exhausted. You're probably thinking "this makes it sound terrible", when in fact it is still a good film. The grittiness of the setting gives you a true feel of what you're meant to experience, because after all it is a crime drama/thriller which isn't supposed to be pleasant. Going into this film expecting a Hollywood masterpiece polished off and put on a plate for me to cherish with the likes of Goodfellas and Casino was always a bad idea.
The story behind the film is typical of a modern gangster film in that it's main character starts from the bottom and works to the top. Malik El Djebena is sentenced to 6 years in a French prison, and is immediately preyed upon by a Corsican Mafia group. Taking advantage of him, they order him to kill another prisoner with the opportunity of having their protection. However he does not have a choice, and once involved he is pressurised to carry it out, so decides to use his intelligence to work his way up and typically have the high power. Without giving too much away, the storyline is relatively straight forward and obvious, even though you do tend to lose sense of who is who with the subtitles and the monotone speech throughout the film. This raises a problem I found when watching it. I didn't feel involved or emotional in any way towards the characters, perhaps with the exception of a graphic scene where Malik commits the murder with a razor blade, and his mental torture before and after. Perhaps this was due to it being in French, but I doubt this having seen "Oldboy". The film seemed to contain a lot of unnecessary shots and scenes on top of this, which didn't necessarily make me lose interest, but left me thinking "I'm not gripped". This to me is the major flaw in the film, but in a way this works to it's advantage, giving you a better insight and accurate take on a Mafia story .
The film gives you a great sense to what it would be like in a prison, and contains many elements of realism. Instead of being an epic thriller, the film is a dull drama. I can only wonder why the film was dubbed to be "One of the greatest crime films ever made". This confuses me, because if it was taken for what it really is, ironically, I'd consider it a better film.
IMDB Score: 8.2 My Score: 7.1
It confuses me you think The Godfather is so different.
ReplyDeleteThe Godfather "is a very dark, dull, slow film that leaves you feeling exhausted". Thats the point of them both. Character acting, its supposed to be slow, its set over 6 years and shows him gradually being converted as opposed to rehabilitated.
Its a french film aka as far from Hollywood as you can get, but The Godfather, Goodfellas and Casino aren't exactly "Hollywood" either.
Ironically, I gave it a better review but a worse score. From youre writing you make it sound terrible but then give it a good score!
Id recommend it to anyone who likes The Godfather, but I wouldnt watch it twice.
TO