A Prophet is a strange kind of Horatio Alger tale. We see the rise from rags to riches, but where Alger's stories saw success as being as much moral as financial, A Prophet sees the rise to power in the loss of morality.

At nineteen, Malik has been in juvenile detention before, but now he's beginning a six-year sentence in an adult prison. He knows no one inside. He's just hoping to put in his time and be free. The prison has a sizable group of Corsicans and a sizable group of Muslims. One day Cèsar, the head of the Corsicans (the Godfather, if you will), makes Malik an offer he can't refuse—kill or be killed. Completing the assignment, Malik comes under Cèsar's protection and part of the Corsican gang. This puts Malik in a kind of no-man's-land. He is distrusted by Muslims, but the Corsicans, while they let him do menial jobs, see him as "a dirty Arab."

In time Malik gains more of Cèsar's trust and is assigned jobs outside the prison (while on one-day leaves) to help grow the Corsicans empire. Meanwhile, Malik has set up a drug business with a paroled Muslim, working the drug trade both in and out of prison. He manages to play both sides against the middle—a perilous game, but if he can navigate the dangers he may reach great heights.

In many ways A Prophet is like The Godfather films that trace the rise to power of Michael in The Godfather, and Vito in The Godfather Part II. In those films we see the simultaneous rise to power and loss of morality. When Malik learns he is capable of killing (and thus capable of doing what he knows to be wrong), he is on the path that will cement his position in the prison hierarchy.

I'm sure we would like to think that people like Malik are born bad. We really don't know much about his background. We aren't even told his crime. He is illiterate, and while he has been in trouble, he doesn't seem to be looking for the kind of involvement he is pulled into. Rather, once in, he becomes progressively more amoral. While murder may be what gets him on his way, the final act we see from him is betrayal—the sin for which Dante reserves the deepest part of Hell. It is that act which shows us the "growth" that Malik has made. It is then that we see that he has become the criminal version of the Alger hero.

The closing credits have a wonderful version of "Mack the Knife" with adds the perfect coda to the film. Sit the few minutes it takes and enjoy the song—perhaps as you've never heard it before.

The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.