At the beginning of his imprisonment, he had no family members to contact, only fifty yuan and a cigarette were left on him. He doesn't know one big Chinese character, and even gets confused by complicated vocabulary when communicating with others. He is 19 years old, but he is particularly immature and vulnerable in a mixed prison.
He was full of calculations about how to survive the six years of imprisonment and how to continue his previous life after he was released from prison. He didn't know that fate had quietly led him elsewhere.
Because of the mixture of Corsican and Arab blood in his body, Malik was spotted by the Corsican boss Caesar in prison and asked to approach and assassinate an Arab prisoner. The reward for completing the task is to be able to get the blessing of Caesar and not be bullied by others. Malik has the right to refuse, but he also has to bear the consequences-death in prison.
He couldn't help but was pushed up the cliff and cut off his back, so he nodded in agreement.
Malik hid the blade in his mouth and walked into the cell of the Arab prisoner named Reby. As far as Malik was concerned, he had no interest at all. Even in the conversation, he could be regarded as a sincere friend, which made Malik hesitate and shake for a moment. But Reby is going to die after all, not in his hands, but also under the sword of other people. If Reby is not dead at this moment, then Malik himself will also be implicated. So the blade that was hidden in the mouth was finally taken out, it cut through Reby's carotid artery, letting blood gush out.
At this point, Malik really started his coming-of-age ceremony, but it was just the beginning.
Reby's death became a knot he could not untie. When alone, Malik often fantasized about talking with Reby's spirit. He followed Raby's advice and began to study hard, but deep down he was still lonely.
After Reby died, he was protected by Caesar's forces, but he was never accepted. The Corsicans said he was an Arab bastard, and the Arabs regarded him as a traitor. Malik survived in the unflattering cracks at both ends, until he met Riad in the prison class.
Riad taught Malik language and cultivated his interest in learning. The two said nothing. Malik felt the warmth from friends for the first time in Riad. But the good times didn't last long. Riad quickly left the prison due to physical reasons. Although they still kept in touch, Malik changed back to a person after all.
The turning point came a year later. Caesar's power was gradually declining due to the government's transfer of some Corsican prisoners. Caesar had no helpers and began to focus on Malik who was always by his side. He arranged for Malik to be released on parole and let him do things for himself. In the process, Malik also began to get involved in the cannabis business. Through the huge profits he obtained from it, he gradually broke free of Caesar's control, cooperated with the Arabs, and established his own business.
At the end of the film, Malik completely dismantled Caesar's forces and became the leader of the new gang. However, after he was released from prison, the camera finally froze on his frowning face. He understood that he was not really free, but was sinking deeper and deeper.
Malik’s coming-of-age ceremony is a tragedy with a known ending.
Just as in the opening chapter of "The Utopia", Kefalos and his sons Polemajos and Socrates eagerly talked about a vision for a beautiful city state. However, people in the book do not know that this discussion of the ideal city-state is based on a tragedy. The Kefalos family will eventually be involved in the "Thirty Tyrants" incident in Athens, and the ending of Polemajos is therefore And died.
People in the book don't know it, but the scholar already knows it. In "The Prophet", the same is true.
In the film, who is the so-called prophet? Actually no one is.
Everyone is a little ant at the mercy of fate, and can only plan for himself based on a vague future. Everything is just to protect himself, and it has nothing to do with prophecy. As the director said, "I named it the prophet, because I want to highlight the sense of fate."
But the audience knew it.
The audience knew the ending, and knew that Malik would turn from an obscure boy to a gang boss. During the two-and-a-half-hour screening process, the audience as a "prophet" witnessed Malik's step by step changes, and step by step toward the waiting for him. ending.
It's like reading "The King of Oedipus". We know this is a tragedy, but we still have to watch Oedipus try to break away from the oracle and become a beloved hero, and finally kill his father and marry his mother. , I found myself unable to escape my destiny after all, and it was painful.
For the audience, it is even more tragic to look at the process after knowing the ending, thinking "it may not be like this, but it is still like this".
Malik finally established himself as a gang, supported by others and protected by others, but is he satisfied? there has never been.
Every step he took was forced and helpless. Because if you don't do this, he will die next, and he just wants to live.
What does Malik really want? In the film, he only showed a smile in a few places-attending classes in the class, chatting with his friend Riad, seeing Riad's wife and children, and standing in the airport like a normal person after parole. Therefore, status and status are not important. What makes Malik really happy is the confirmation of himself, the company of family and friends, and the freedom of normal people.
But has he finally obtained these things?
After he escaped from Caesar's hand, he fell into another net again, and again and again, how free.
Towards the end of the film, Caesar approached Malik, wanting to reconfirm his patriarchal status. Malik whispered a few words to the people around him, and then watched Caesar be knocked to the ground and left slumped. At that moment, the Corsican faction in the prison finally had to admit that it lost power, and at the same time realized that a brand new order had been quietly established. As the central figure of the vortex, Malik stood by the iron railing indifferently, as if everything had nothing to do with him.
At this point, Malik has truly completed his coming-of-age ceremony in prison. What is self, what is friend, what is freedom, what is involuntary, he has fully realized in this prison thousands of days and nights.
On the day of release, the sun was just right. Malik walked out of the iron gate and saw the gang members who came to greet him at a glance. He nodded slightly, and then turned to the other side. Jamila (riad's wife) was waiting for him with her baby in her arms.
Malik smiled now.
He walked to Jamila, greeted her, and asked how she came. The two were chatting about simple homework, and Malik looked back, and three black cars were following them unhurriedly. He made a gesture behind him without a trace, to make the gang members drive slower, so as not to alarm Jamila, who didn't know anything about it. This was the ending he had foreseen long ago. From the time he killed Reby, he knew that some things would always be with him, unable to break free. As a result, the ending of the film seemed to be a happy new life for everyone, but it was finally fixed in Malik's slightly worried look.
Malik completed his coming-of-age ceremony, but this tragedy is far from over.
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