This French movie tells the story about a criminal called Malik. He has to go to jail where he experiences the tensions between the various groups (Corsicans/Muslims). Very soon he gets mixed up in the politics of it all.
The movie reminded me a lot of Scarface. Not that there are many similarities with it (although this movie also contains it’s fair share of crime and violence), but this story is also about a nobody who slowly grows in the environment he ends up in. In this movie you feel like you are under the skin of Malik. You feel the effects of prison life on him (pay attention on the airport scene, where it’s clear how much the prison system has had an effect on him). You are there when he has to struggle with some dilemmas. The length of the movie is 2 and half hours, but doesn’t feel too long at all. It’s a movie which I could immediately watch a second time. The last scene of the movie seems to be a tribute to a scene from the Godfather. You’ll have to watch it to see if you recognise it.
Score: 9