Alternate Best Actor 2009: Tahar Rahim in A Prophet

Tahar Rahim did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Malik El-Djebena in A Prophet. 

A Prophet is Jacques Audiard's best film, about French youth of Algerian descent attempting to survive in prison. 

Tahar Rahim plays the youth who we meet under less than auspicious circumstances as he enters into the film basically berated as he's been sentenced to six years in prison. No one particularly cares about him, and Rahim's performance says much without verbally saying much of anything in these earliest scenes. He exudes a sense of trauma, while we don't know the exact details of his past, Rahim instantly suggests someone who has been burdened by so much before ending up in prison. There is a quiet vulnerability that Rahim expresses at the moment, an innate intensity of someone who has had to fight for the little that he has and the little that he has gotten. Rahim is terrific in basically showing through this mix of maturity yet still kind of an innocent quality within the character all the same. He is only a teenager in this opening scene and Rahim shows wrapped in the pain and is very much close to being just a scared kid in some of his reactions. Of course, things don't really get much better for him, as the first thing that happens to him is he gets his shoes stolen by two other prisoners and then is beaten up when trying to retrieve them. Raham's performance is filled with so much anxiety as his whole physical manner is withdrawn, scared, and defensive as the young man who appears is only seen as someone to exploit by most. Something that becomes immediately evident when a Corsican gang in the prison led by César Luciani (Niels Astrup) takes notice of him. 

Takes notice of him not for prospective ability, but as a potential scapegoat as they want him to kill a witness, Reyeb, for them. Rahim's performance stays as the scared near kid as they attempt to force this, and he almost immediately attempts to go to the warden for help, however, is instead tortured by the Corsicans who were informed via a corrupt guard. Rahim's performance is great as he just makes everything immediately real and pulls you into the world of the prison and also the specific mental space of this teenager who is attempting to just mind himself in prison. Rahim's work is subtle yet extremely powerful in creating an immediate sense of turmoil at the prospect of the murder, and his reactions towards the request are that of genuine horror. When it becomes clear that the men will kill him unless he kills the man for them, Malik goes along with it. And I think it is important how Rahim plays the scenes where he is getting the instruction on how to kill the man, who made a pass at Malik in the shower, Rahim reflects a man truly just going through the motions be it required, almost a like a soldier on a front line. There's no sense that he's with the men at this point, or at all wanting to do this, it is rather this horrendous duty that has been forced upon him by these cruel men. 

The sequence of the killing is amazing work from Rahim as in every moment of it he makes you feel what Malik is going through as he is so filled with tension. His eyes are affixed with this sense of knowing what he has to do, so filled with fear that Rahim presents as Malik trying his hardest to hold it all in. Meanwhile, while Reyeb is genuinely friendly, and not as just sex obsessed as their initial interaction might've suggested, Rahim's way of taking in this is basically silence of the man still focused on what he has to do, yet in a way that is filled with desperation. When he goes for the kill, and really initially bungles it by being much too far away, Rahim's performance isn't about animalistic violence or hate but sheer distress of just doing the thing he has to do. There isn't a moment where it is the professional killer, but rather just a sloppy man just doing it as basically a lifeline for himself, and Rahim makes it such a harrowing moment by showing how it is truly just a moment of survival for himself. And from that Malik does survive, earning the protection of the Corsicans, however within their crew becoming essentially their glorified servant. Regardless, of the scenes immediately afterward, Rahim's performance so naturally adjusts. He physically now is a man more comfortable with this environment and more able. Though still more to go, as with the Corsicans, while less of the scared kid he was, still he acts as the deferring employee, never the equal. 

Rahim is absolutely captivating then as we watch him cultivate this progression in Malik, as the lead Corsican César puts more faith in him, but also Malik becomes more confident in general. Getting to hone his intelligence through schooling and also becoming familiar with the ins and outs of prison life. Rahim is terrific in the way he so comfortably creates this growth in confidence in the man, and we see with him the steps to becoming a proper associate within this world and not just a bystander. I think what is important is Rahim very carefully makes the most out of any moment in which we still see the humanity in Malik even as he has to exist in this inhumane world. Take the moments where he is essentially haunted by the ghost of Reyeb, the weird idea that completely works in execution, where Rahim conveys this understated guilt flawlessly. It is particularly remarkable because Rahim doesn't portray it as this overt somber suffering, but rather something that Malik accepts, lives with as what he had to do to survive, yet still, there is shame in his eyes that he just has as part of him. Or take the moment where Malik gets a day's leave, supposedly due to good behavior but also due to the mechanizations of César. The glint of joy we see in Malik in his little taste of freedom is so potently conveyed by Rahim's appreciation in his eyes as he sees the outside world, albeit briefly. 

The freedom is only for a day however and is still under the thumb of the Corsicans as his first job is just to do a drop and collect a hostage. This does give him a chance to connect more with a friend of his he made in prison Ryad (Adel Bencherif) who was released due to a cancer diagnosis. The chemistry between Rahim and Bencherif is fantastic because there is such a sense of honest friendship between the two with no sense of condition between them. Rahim's great in that there is greater ease in these moments, particularly as the two become partners technically in crime as the two decide to make their own deals through the prison and the outside to make money beyond what the Corsicans expect of him. And in part Rahim projects that growing sense of power within Malik as he makes the deal. Rahim is able to convey intelligence so well with the character, and just his eyes project the man who isn't now just following the next threat but rather is trying to figure out a way for himself to become on top. However, that isn't to say he's escaped his predicament and every so often César still cuts him down violently when he thinks what Malik is doing might undermine him in some way. Rahim's great even in the reaction to this showing often the physical pain of César abuse, but doesn't present a man as hopelessly browbeaten. 

And in the final act of the film, what Rahim has been building throughout his entire performance into turning Malik into a wholly capable criminal if not even a crime boss. We see Malik as he begins to realize his power by destroying a gang who kidnapped Ryad for extortion, as Rahim in the moment of the threat is fully menacing and shows this innate control in Malik then. When he is tasked with César to kill his own boss, the whole sequence is brilliant, however Rahim at the center point of it is amazing in showing the calm and really the cool of Malik now as he goes about the assassination, however the assassination his way, where he only kills the bosses bodyguards in order to set up César and his cohorts for the actual fall. And I think a fascinating aspect of this is that while Malik's journey is somewhat Michael Corleone-esque, with two scenes in particular very much alluding to that journey, his portrayal for the most part isn't about a man losing his humanity, rather it is a depiction of a man coming to terms with what he has to do to survive and thrive in the world he was thrust into. We still have the moments where Rahim tries his best to let Ryad know that he will protect his family after he is gone, and in that whole friendship, we see so much genuine camaraderie. And even the idea of freedom Rahim always expresses so poignantly what every moment of it still means to him, even as he's embedded into this world of crime. Rahim's performance depicts a man essentially overpowering his plight at every turn, so by the time he leaves the prison, we see a complete transformation from the scared kid to a man wholly in control of his environment. Tahar Rahim delivers a great performance that makes this difficult journey absolutely convincing while also being absolutely captivating every step of the way.