Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

Commentary subtitles: English, German, none

• Deleted Scenes (10:34 in SD)

• 5 Screen Tests (5:00 in SD)

• Theatrical Trailer (2:02 in HD!)

Bitrate:

 

Description: "As epic as The Godfather." -Kevin Maher,The London Times

"Like The Godfather, which it regularly recalls, A Prophet serves up crime as a metaphor for life and power…" -John Anderson, Wall Street Journal

"The film's hero is a cousin to the protagonists of The Godfather or Scarface, but the movie writes its gangland saga without phony mob glamour." - Robert Horton, Everett Herald

"If Malik doesn't remind you of Al Pachino's Michael Corleone on his journey from innocence to corruption in The Godfather saga, well…he should. A Prophet is similarly, startlingly momentous." -Stephen Rea, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"A Prophet is a new crime classic." -Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"4 out of 4 stars." -Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"A stylish revelation, recalling The Godfather…" -James Verniere, The Boston Herald

"A Prophet is Godfather good…" -Karen Durbin, Elle

"A Godfather saga set behind bars, Audiard's riveting tale of a young Arab's rise within the inmate hierarchy is as compelling as filmmaking gets." -Paul Ennis, Now Magazine

 

 

The Film:

Jacques Audiard is a film-maker who understands the dramatic – and sometimes comic – thrills of self-invention. In A Self-Made Hero (1996) Mathieu Kassowitz played a man who counterfeited a glorious past as a Resistance fighter. In Read My Lips (2001) a put-upon secretary turns her deafness to account in an elaborate plan to rip off her boss. In The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) a small-time Parisian hoodlum puts aside his thuggish tendencies to explore his potential as a classical pianist. Audiard's characters are schemers and strivers: by dint of graft, wit and endurance they make a journey of transformation before our eyes. It is precisely what great drama should be about. 

Malik El Djebena, the Arab teen protagonist of his latest film, A Prophet, faces the toughest trial yet: a Darwinian struggle for survival inside a brutal French prison. Sent down for six years, 19-year-old Malik can't read or write, hasn't a family on the outside nor a friend on the inside, and on his first day in jail is violently mugged for his trainers. If only that was the worst of it. We don't know what crime Malik was sentenced for, but it obviously wasn't murder, because he almost combusts with panic when the prison's Corsican gang boss Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup) coerces him into bumping off an Arab inmate who is due to testify against his interests. "I can't kill anyone," Malik mutters forlornly to himself – but he must, and soon, otherwise they are going to kill him.

Excerpt from The Independent (UK) located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.
 

Visually the transfer of A Prophet to Blu-ray by Sony appears perfect - supporting the various cinematography - hand-held kinetic shots, static and tracking motion all utilized in different sequences. Some shots are much grainer than others giving some important texture to the image canvas and colors are vibrant once venturing outside the prison confines. The tight gritty nature of the narrative carries over from the adept image quality with limited instances of depth. This is dual-layered with the 2.5 hour, 1.85:1, feature taking up over 44 Gig of space on the disc. The healthy bitrate produces and image free of undue noise or artifacts. Predictably, it is clean transfer free of any damage or marks. In fact it is very hard to find flaw with the way A Prophet looks in 1080P. I strongly expect it looks exactly as the filmmakers intended and the Blu-ray produces a highly rewarding viewing experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The DTS-HD Master 5.1 in original French at 3906 kbps doesn't take a backseat to the image. The transfer has subtle moments in day-to-day functions in lonely cell as well as some highly aggressive moments with punchy bass-pounding violence coming in many forms. Like The Ghost Writer we have another excellent score by Alexandre Desplat. The lossless track suports it well and there is a German DUB available as well. There are optional subtitles and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Well... easily the most brutal and impacting 'prison film' I've ever seen. A Prophet pulls no punches in its realistic depictions. The story seems, like the protagonist, always evolving into new areas of crime, violence while, in turn, educating the viewer. While I didn't find the comparisons to The Godfather as direct as some - it tells the survival aspects of one thrust into the gangster world with a precise storytelling style that elevates it far above the norm. This borders on masterpiece direction and Audiard has moved steadily forward from his adroit but less convincing The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005). The Blu-ray supports an inspiring presentation that tacks on the nuances of film-level features. A Prophet makes for a very worthy viewing - exhausting for some - but more for its content than 2.5 hour length. We strongly recommend! 

Gary Tooze

July 31st, 2010