First things first: I love good crime dramas like a fat kid loves cake. There’s something intoxicating about the genre – the high stakes, the big rewards, the voyeuristic walk on the wild side – that has been catnip to me since I was a kid.

Un Prophete is the best crime drama I’ve seen in a while (if you don’t count “Fantastic Mister Fox” which is kind of a stop-motion crime dramedy.) I was engrossed through the entire running time, which is impressive for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a long movie, clocking in comfortably over 2 hours. My years of Pavlovian movie-theater training mean I generally start getting antsy at about the 100 minute mark. Un Prophete was so good, however, that I didn’t notice the passing of all that extra time until I was on my way out of the theater. The more important surprise is that I was deeply compelled despite the film’s Frenchness.

In my experience, Frenchness in cinema is sometimes problematic.

Frenchness often means arty lighting, hard-to-read subtitles and way too much talking. None of these things are dealbreakers for me in and of themselves, but my brain is American and I’m accustomed to films being more about what is going on in the scene than what is going on in the actors.

That said, this film’s contemplative pacing compliments its subject matter, and the suspense and drama are not diminished by the slowly unspooling plot.

It’s basically a French prison Goodfellas, and I say that with love. Our protagonist is a 19 year old French Arab kid entering the prison system for the first time. The movie follows his six-year sentence, and his rise through the ranks of the prison’s gang culture.
It’s not showing everywhere, but I recommend it if the idea of a gritty, cerebral prison movie appeals to you.