The Power of Foreign Languages
Most American remakes of foreign films aren't that good. The main reason is that Hollywood often waters down the original film but I think another reason that people don't like these films is because there is an aura around watching a film in a foreign language. I'm not sure what it is; maybe having to read the subtitles helps take our minds off of focusing too much on the film itself. But, whatever it is, foreign films seem to get a pass IMO.
Case in point is A Prophet. If this film was in English, I think the episodic nature of the plot would be more obvious, the lack of many actual failures that the hero faces would jump out, and a few ridiculous scenes would be jarring. The lead character has a lot of "tough" decisions but he always makes the "easy answer." I don't want to get more spoilery but "A Prophet" is a film that I wouldn't recommend unless someone has a track record of liking foreign films. If you usually don't like those films, you should avoid this.
My biggest problem with "A Prophet" was a couple of scenes. The deer crossing moment and the assassination shootout in which our hero somehow manages to pull off the killing (or pull off as much as he wants) by just strolling up to the car. Why was this such a big plan when all it took was one guy with a gun to kill everyone? And how did the targets unload their clips into the front seat and not hit the guy at all? And then they just sat in the backseat chilling? Who does that? Now most films have these flawed moments but most films don't pass themselves off as a raw telling of the rise of a criminal mind. These scenes can work in a film like "The Hurt Locker" because it's a rather dumb action movie. In a film like this or "The Green Zone", these questions have to be asked because the films are supposed to be realistic.
My other issue was that everything came to easily to our hero. Most everything was like the assassination; he half-assed his way into a success. He screws up the first assignment by pulling out the razor at the wrong time but still successfully gets it done. Everything in the movie was like that; he didn't really win because he was smarter; everyone else just was dumber.
Now you can explain some of the issues away but I feel like, in most cases, seeing these things go down would be more interesting. Luciani's story, for instance, was the more intriguing one. He was barely holding onto power, his best asset was someone he consistently shit on and wasn't his blood, and as the movie went on, he needed the main guy more than the main guy needed him. He turned on his own blood and had to rely on the non-Corsican and that ended up biting him in the ass.
The movie this reminded me of was "There Will Be Blood" except the relationship between Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano was much more interesting and interwoven than the one between Luciani and the main guy in "A Prophet". In "A Prophet", Luciani just kept losing power and the main guy (I think it's also a bad sign when I have no idea what the protagonists name was) would just stumble upon another issue that would help him gain power. Daniel Day-Lewis's Plainview actively took power; in "A Prophet" power was for the taking and, in most cases, it was like the protagonist just had to show up to get it.
