Freedom and Captivity in the 2009 French Film "Un Prophète" (directed by Jaques Audiard)

Online

In our French class this semester, FREN 300.3, “Liberté, captivité, en français,” we studied captivity and freedom in different forms of French and francophone cultural expression, such as films and books. The French film "Un Prophète" shows freedom and constraint through the story of main character Malik El Djebena while he is in prison. He faces struggles with captivity not only from being in prison, but also from fellow inmates and his own internal thoughts. Our class is creating a digital humanities project using “Story Map” technology that will allow us to distill the main ideas of each book or film’s representation of, on the one hand, freedom, and on the other, captivity. Our team will create a story map that viewers can use to understand freedom and captivity (and their ability to coexist with one another in a single situation) within this particular film and within the particular medium of cinema. This story map will be in French and English, and will include summaries of the film; analysis of scenes; descriptions of the setting; and interpretations that emerge about captivity and freedom.