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Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film, Jacques Audiard’s prison drama is being compared to THE GODFATHER and the comparison is warranted. In taking a new perspective on the gangster genre, the gripping film deals with issues of being an Arab in France and the reality of rehabilitation. Prison rarely makes a person a better person only a better criminal.

Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) is a 19-year-old delinquent who gets six years for fighting with cops. Whether he deserved it or was being targeted for being an Arab is left open ended. But it doesn’t really matter, because this scrawny kid is now in with the big boys. He’s petrified and it shows on his face. Before too long, he is mugged for his shoes. When he tries to fight back, he just gets beat more. However, his guts don’t go unnoticed… and that’s not a good thing for him. Corsican gang boss Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY) makes him an offer that he can’t refuse — he must kill the snitch Reyeb (Hichem Yacoubi, AZUR AND ASMAR) or be killed.
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