"A Prophet" and "The Long Good Friday"

     On the surface, Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet" looks like a standard prison/mafia film of a young man who works his way up the ranks to ultimately achieve power.  However, Audiard has crafted a film that serves as an allegory for the current population shift taking place not only in France, but across Western Europe.  This change is the growing Muslim population, and "A Prophet" introduces its main character, Malik, a young Franco-Arab who has been recently sentenced to a French Prison.  He quickly learns of the power structure among the inmates, which belongs to the incarcerated members of the Corsican Mafia.  The leader of the group, Cesar, allows Malik to join them after he has killed an inmate upon Cesar's request.  As Malik assimilates with the Corsicans, gaining their trust, it becomes evident how small the group the Corsicans are, that they are outnumbered by the other ethnic groups in the prison, including the Muslim inmates.  Malik then uses this to his advantage, gaining the trust and respect of his fellow Muslim prisoners.  By the end of the film, when all the power within the prison has officially changed, Cesar is left with nothing, and when he tries to confront Malik in the prison yard, he is shoved to the ground by the members of Malik's group.
     Another film which has a story of social change told through organized crime is John Mackenzie's 1980 release, "The Long Good Friday," whose plot is told from the point of view of a character similar to Cesar's in "A Prophet," an established mob boss who is blindsided by the changing times.  That character is Harold Shand, the leader of the London mob.  In the middle of finalizing a deal with American investors, when a member of his group is killed, he believes it is a rival mob trying to usurp his power.  When Harold is lead to the Afro-Caribbean neighborhood of Brixton to search for answers, we are given the first indication that he is not familiar or comfortable with the changing population of certain parts of London.  When it is revealed that the group attacking Harold's organization is the IRA, he believes he can take care of the situation like he normally would, killing one of their leaders to send a message.  Unaware of the political motivations of the IRA, Harold is captured, and as the camera focuses on him in the backseat of the car, his face shows a look not just of anger, but also bewilderment.  Throughout the film, he is very nostalgic about "old London."  But in the end, like Cesar in "A Prophet," Harold does not understand the new world he lives in, and is soon left behind.