A Prophet (18)

Utterly gripping winner of the Best Film Prize at London Film Festival grabs you from the start and never lets go

Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arastrup, Adel Bencherif
France, 2009, 2 hours 38 minutes, subtitles

Fri 5 March 8.15pm, Sat 6 8.30pm, Mon 8 8.15 pm The Courtyard Hereford

An engrossing, terrifying thriller that provides insight into the French prison system that turns Malik, a naïve, 19 year-old French-Arab, into a career criminal. Taken under the wing of the 'Italians' who rule the roost he soon finds that protection comes at a price. An incorrigible loner, he adapts to the harsh pecking order of prison and makes the most of the opportunities that arise among the shifting criminal loyalties. Brutal, authentic, thoughtful, wonderfully cinematic and incredibly entertaining, this runs on a sense of sheer dread as Malik walks an ever-lengthening tightrope merely to survive.