Word: djebena
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Because the protagonist, Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), enters the prison at the age of nineteen after dropping out of school at eleven, the film isn’t as much a gangster picture as it is a bildungsroman. He doesn’t just learn how to kill people, or how to build a drug empire from the inside; El Djebena also learns how to read and write. Through his brief encounters on the outside, he also discovers what there is to live for in the real world...
Audiard is an expert at using this trait of Rahim’s character early in the film to capture the empathy, if not sympathy, of the audience. As El Djebena prepares for his first hit to gain protection from the Corsicans, he sits in front of a mirror trying to teach himself how to hide a razorblade in the side of his mouth, and his gums begin to bleed. The look of agonizing determination in Rahim’s face at this and many moments in the film evoke a documentary authenticity. The typically circuitous plot twists...
...irreverence, which often crosses into pure magical realism. Characters and scenes are introduced with bold-lettered captions, and the incredible soundtrack has everything from Bob Dylan-sound-a-likes to Nas. The “Prophet” of the title is also intended literally—El Djebena is haunted by his first hit, a fellow Arab, who gives him visions of the future, teaches him about Islam, and smokes with him through his neck wound. It’s as if Murakami turned the second half of Camus’ “The Stranger” inside...
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