Monday, November 02, 2015
Not cagney
Today, the movie is
with Tahir Rahim.
An old favorite.
I quit half way as he is beginning to have visions and finished the second day.
This is a wonderful film. Tough and hard wonderful, mostly a prison flick.
Everything is very well done from the cells down to the little spoon they use to gouge out an eyeball. Not that anyone does that but it is a pretty close call.
The insanely villainous Neil Arsstrup and the menacingly handsome Tahar Rahim mix it up along with a bunch of other real and actor cons.
The ultimate prison film.
It is also a redemption film. Turned upside down.
Jaque Audiard shows us how things can go when a young man with a moderate record is set down in the pen with the rest of his kind.
He survives but not by being an angel.
He does go to school to learn to write. He does develop a spiritual relationship with the man he was forced to kill. Very sexy indeed if you can believe that.
You probably don't believe it so see the film for yourself. You will believe.
The "prophet" part is that our young man has visions which uncannily turn out to be "true" or true in enough in general to give him warnings.
Selected to do a killing on one of his leave days, he instead signs up with other people who support him.
At the end, he leaves with his gang. He has become a boss.
I am not telling you anything you will not know in seeing the film. It is the "how" of it that is so well done.
Young Rahim is a great actor. For once, I watched some of the commentary track and heard him talk to the director and writer about what they were trying to do.
I do not normally do this but here the talk is compelling. Rahim is a new breed of "star".
I have watched this film many times. So it is a 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
