The new drama Un Prophète (A Prophet) by French director Jacques Audiard is enjoying critics’ praise and the best reviews at Cannes Film Festival. It appears to be a likely contender for this year’s Palme d’Or. Audiard tackles difficult political and racial issues in his new film.

Set over three or four years, it tracks estranged Muslim Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) as he evolves from wide-eyed, cowering inmate to ruler of the prison yard, a journey that begins with the Corsican mafia choosing him to kill an Arab snitch (Hichem Yacoubi) they can’t get close to.

Malik has no say in the matter: it is kill or be killed.

But, successfully fulfilling his odious task, Malik is asked to stick around, his smarts and work ethic getting him ever-closer to prison kingppin Cesar Luciani (Niels Arestrup).

His value increases further when he has completed half of his six-year sentence and is allowed day passes to the outside world, where he starts running hefty drug deals.

Jacques Audiard is mostly known for his earlier productions The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) and Read My Lips (2001). In the vein of Gomorrah (2008) and Carandiru (2003), Un Prophète is half prison drama, half gritty thriller. Total Film has the details.