The unforgivable crime: missing this film...

Every now and then you see something so fresh and well made that it manages to immediately sink its claws into you, leaving no doubt that you're seeing a modern classic. The last time that happened was with the sensational Let the Right One In. It just happened again with A Prophet (Un prophète), the best thing to happen to crime and gangsters since season one of The Sopranos.

A Prophet has the raw vigor of Scorsese's Mean Streets and is such a refreshing lesson in craft and economy, it puts most recent films to shame. The Grand Prix winner at Cannes, A Prophet follows Malik (Tahar Rahim, in virtually every scene) from his first day in a French prison, where survival draws him into the service of an aging Corsican mafia boss, learning all the while, often at extreme peril.

French director Jacques Audiard must be flooded with offers after his work here. While very much an old school tale of hard boiled crime, the movie feels completely fresh and inventive and new. Malik may remind you of young Michael Corleone at times, though it may ultimately be DeNiro's young Vito (from II) whose footsteps he follows the closest.

PLEASE don't let the French subtitles and any lack of familiarity with Arab/Corsican culture keep you from seeing the best mob picture in ages. Imagine a really raw episode of Oz or The Wire blended with Goodfellas and La Femme Nikita era Besson and you'll have an idea of what lies in store. No opportunity is wasted, a lesson that Malik and director Audiard have both clearly mastered. Highly recommended.