| p>There are many reasons to brave the shocking | | | | At that moment, your heart breaks for Cesar. |
| violence of Thomas Bidigain and Jacques Audiard's | | | | Even as you feel the emotion, you're shocked that it's |
| new film, A Prophet (Un Prophete). This brilliantly | | | | even possible to feel this way. After all, this is the man |
| crafted screenplay, which takes you into the brutal | | | | who targeted the young Malik, without provocation, and |
| world of a French prison through its main character, | | | | brutalized him until Malik was forced to bend to his will. |
| Malik, makes the prison world of The Shawshank | | | | This is the man who forced Malik to commit the |
| Redemption look like daycare. As you follow Malik's | | | | bloody murder that changed him forever, in a scene so |
| haunting and deeply affecting journey, you are forced | | | | shockingly violent that the man in front of me at the |
| to empathize with people and actions you would | | | | theatre started whimpering and waving his hands in |
| normally consider unforgivable, and discover the | | | | front of his face, unable to contain his visceral reaction. |
| humanity in characters whose defining traits are not | | | | This is a man who has nearly removed Malik's eye |
| only immoral, but downright horrific. | | | | with a spoon, has beaten him, humiliated him, corrupted |
| As screenwriters and screenwriting students, we | | | | him, brutalized him, called him an Arab dog, and treated |
| often worry about the "like-ability" of our main | | | | him like a slave. A criminal, a racist, a brutal, corrupt |
| characters. In fact, entire books (Blake Snyder's Save | | | | man without a noble or kind bone in his body. |
| The Cat for example) have been crafted around the | | | | How is it possible that you can feel this way about this |
| principle that unless your main character is a "nice" | | | | truly horrible person? Can your heart really be breaking |
| person-- a saver of cats, a lover of children, a hooker | | | | for him? |
| with a heart of gold-- an audience will be unable to | | | | Of course it can. |
| connect with them or care about them. Writers who | | | | Your heart breaks because you know Malik's heart is |
| cling to this principle often find themselves cut off from | | | | breaking. And of course it is. Because at this moment, |
| their characters, and with them, from their writer's | | | | Malik is losing the best parts of himself: his compassion, |
| voice. Much as we often do in our personal lives, such | | | | his humanity, and even more. |
| writers find themselves covering up their character's | | | | This orphan, this troubled child, raised in a group home |
| "true self" for fear of offending some unknown | | | | without ever knowing his father or mother, is losing the |
| audience who might judge, hate, or worst of all, stop | | | | only father he ever had. |
| caring about a character who doesn't conform to | | | | Cesar may have been a terrible father. But he is |
| society's ideals. | | | | nonetheless a father. He has protected Malik, provided |
| The result, of course, is boring, lifeless, one-dimensional | | | | for his physical needs, given him protection, opportunity, |
| characters, who neither live, breathe, nor make | | | | power, access, leave-days from prison, and even the |
| mistakes: characters who are less real than the people | | | | possibility of parole. He has bestowed affection and |
| who write them, and therefore not worthy of our | | | | praise. He has turned Malik into a man-- and into an |
| attention. Building your movie around a character like | | | | image of himself. |
| this is like taking a cruise in a leaky boat. Without a real | | | | In my classes, I often talk about archetypal structure: |
| character around whom to build your structure, you're | | | | using supporting characters in a Jungian fashion to |
| going to spend most of your time bailing out water. | | | | reveal the repressed aspects of your main character, |
| You spend all your time trying to create a character | | | | and to force your main character to come to terms |
| who is likable-- only to discover that nobody likes them | | | | with the parts of himself that he doesn't want to even |
| anyway. | | | | admit are there. In true archetypal fashion, Cesar is |
| So how do Bidigain and Audiard get away with it? | | | | both the biggest threat to Malik-- the key to unlocking |
| How do they manage to make an audience fall in love | | | | the darkest aspects Malik's personality-- and the loving |
| with a cast of horrible people-- while you can't even | | | | father Malik so desperately needs. |
| get anyone to care about the most noble character in | | | | And at this moment, Malik has murdered him. |
| your whole movie? | | | | He's done so literally, by betraying Cesar to the |
| Read on. | | | | powerful Italian crime boss that Cesar had plotted to |
| But first, a spoiler alert. If you haven't already seen A | | | | kill, and metaphorically, by leaving the old man trembling |
| Prophet get yourself to a theatre! This movie is way | | | | in the yard at the moment he most needs him. |
| too good to miss. And far too instructive as well. | | | | For just as Cesar has been an archetypal father for |
| To understand how Bidigain and Audiard can make | | | | Malik, so too has Malik been the closest thing Cesar |
| your heart break for characters who should, by every | | | | has had to a son. |
| definition, be "un-likable", we only need to examine one | | | | And at this moment, Cesar is losing him. |
| scene. It comes toward the end of the movie. Cesar | | | | That's why, at this moment, you find yourself silently |
| Luciani, the white-haired Corsican crime boss, has | | | | pleading with Malik. |
| spotted Malik, our hero, in the yard, standing with his | | | | Go to him. Go to him. Don't leave him there, trembling |
| new Muslim friends. This is a huge change, especially in | | | | on the ground. |
| the racially charged atmosphere of the prison. Up until | | | | A "like-able" character would do it. He'd run to Cesar, |
| now, Malik has spent every day in the yard with | | | | embrace him like a father, and the two men would be |
| Cesar, forsaking his own Arab people for the | | | | reconciled, like Billy Elliot and his own terrible father |
| protection of Cesar's Corsican gang. But today, | | | | after the final dance sequence. |
| everything is different. Though Cesar doesn't yet know | | | | Malik doesn't. He makes the "unlikeable" decision. And |
| it, Malik has betrayed him. Cesar's once powerful | | | | you understand. You empathize. And you care. |
| connections, both inside and outside the prison, are | | | | Because Malik doesn't have a choice. He has to steel |
| gone. Malik is the only thing he has left. | | | | his heart against Cesar, or Cesar will destroy him. |
| Cesar gestures to Malik with a gentle nod of his head | | | | You empathize, because Malik is struggling with the |
| to come over. But Malik doesn't move. Cesar nods | | | | same desire you are feeling as you watch him. The |
| again, more desperate now. Still no response from | | | | voice in his head saying Go to him. That desperate |
| Malik. | | | | desire we all have: to reconcile with those who have |
| Cesar makes a decision. He stands up, and walks | | | | most hurt us, to be a compassionate person, to have |
| across the yard toward Malik, crossing the invisible line | | | | everything be okay. |
| that divides the Corsican from the Muslim prison | | | | Empathy doesn't come from like-ability. Just like back in |
| population. Malik sends two thugs to intercept Cesar, | | | | high school. Remember that annoying kid who always |
| but the old man pushes right past them. As weakened | | | | wanted to hang out with you? It didn't matter how nice |
| as he may be, we know what Cesar can do-- his | | | | he was. You didn't want to spend time with him. |
| limitless capacity for violence. And at this moment, | | | | Because he wasn't being himself. He was being who |
| seeing how much power remains in the old man, we | | | | he thought you wanted him to be. |
| fear for Malik. It seems like truly nothing can stop | | | | Empathy comes from allowing your characters to be |
| Cesar. | | | | who they are, and to pursue what they most want |
| And then, one swift punch from a nameless thug, and | | | | and need, against impossible odds. |
| Cesar is lying on the ground, writhing in agony, exposed | | | | Empathy comes when you make it hard, and allow |
| for exactly what he is-- an old man for whose only | | | | your characters to make the decisions, right or wrong, |
| remaining connection in the world has just been | | | | that only they can make. |
| severed. | | | | |