Malik El Djebena arrives at the prison that he will call his new home. He was given 6 years. He cannot read or write. He enters prison with nothing.
The yard is divided down the middle, the Arabs on one side, led by the Muslims, and on the other, the Corsicans, led by the elder César Luciani. As a new group of inmates is brought in, Cesar sees Reyeb, an Arab who is in prison for 10 days before testifying in a trial. The leader of the Corsican mafia on the outside, Jacky Marcaggi, wants Reyeb rubbed out before he has a chance to testify. Reyeb is aware of his precarious situation and requests to be held in Cellblock B, which is the domain of the Arab, where he locks himself in his cell all day.
Soon after, Malik is in the shower room and is propositioned by the man in the next shower stall. It is Reyeb. Offered hash in exchange for sexual favors, Malik loudly declines. Cesar calls Malik to a meeting in the yard with the other Corsicans. Cesar knows about the incident in the shower and is aware that Malik can speak Arab. He instructs Malik to befriend Reyeb, gain his trust, accept his offer and then, kill him.
Forced into agreeing to the hit, Malik is coached by Cesar's men as to how it will be done. Upon the instigation of sex, Malik will slit Reyeb¹s throat with a razor blade that will be concealed in his mouth. In his cell, Malik practices the concealing and retrieving of the razor in his mouth. After many painful attempts, he is ready for the hit.
Reyeb lets Malik into his cell, searches him for weapons, and sits him down to talk. Figuring that Malik is illiterate, he encourages him to enroll in the schooling program at the prison and learn to read and write. As Malik prepares himself for the deed, things go badly, his mouth starts to bleed from the hidden razor, leaving him no choice now but to kill Reyeb, which he does hastily and brutally. He takes the evidence and slips out of Reyeb's cell undetected.
Remembering Reyeb's advice, Malik enrolls in the school where he learns to read and write. Malik also becomes a regular fixture in Cesar's cell, which serves as the hub of business for the Corsicans. He fixes coffee, cleans up after them, and is technically under their protection. Being an Arab, Malik will never be one of them but he however secretly learns Corsican language.
During class, he meets Ryad, a member of the Muslim gang, who helps him with his language studies. The two quickly become friends. Ryad also confides in Malik that he had recently undergone a bout of chemotherapy for testicular cancer, and now appears to be OK.
Minister of Home Affairs Sarkozy has announced that in a political move, Corsican prisoner with lightest sentences will be transferred closer to home. This news is not good for the "heavily sentenced" Cesar, as he will remain in the prison while a good percentage of his crew will soon be gone.
It is at this moment that Malik chooses to reveal to Cesar that he understands and speaks Corsican. Cesar who needs support has Ibanez, the main security guard, move Malik into the cell next to his. Malik improves his condition as his new cell has a TV and he now works for Cesar as a spy. In the yard Malik meets Jordi, a gypsy and a drug dealer. Jordi is involved in a drug smuggling ring on the outside, where large amounts of hash are moved in cars on the freeway between France and Spain. Later that night, Malik hears Cesar's business on the outside is not going well. He has Malik fill out a parole application. While it is being processed, Malik may be granted occasional leaves from the prison, during which he can run errands for Cesar.
The old man gives Malik's lawyer contact info for his people on the outside who can expedite the process of Malik taking leaves. Cesar instructs Malik that he must now become a model prisoner, and cannot risk not being to ruin his parole program.
Ryad who has since been released is now unhappily working as a telemarketer, supporting his wife Djamilla and their new baby. In order to take leaves, Malik needs a job on the outside as a cover. Ryad sets him up with a bogus job at a garage.
As his first leave approaches, Jordi tells Malik of a hash transfer on the outside that went badly. 100 kilos were confiscated and the men arrested, though one of the drivers managed to get away and managed to stash one of the bags in a nearby restroom, before getting nabbed himself.
Malik is finally granted his first leave. He is allowed to be outside for a strictly controlled 8 hours. His job for Cesar is a drop-off. He is driven by Cesar's lawyer, Sampierro, to a far-away slum in the middle of nowhere where he is to simply deliver a briefcase. As he approaches the door, he is pulled inside at gunpoint and pinned to the floor as the men inside inspect the briefcase. Malik learns that he is being given something in return for the contents of the briefcase; Cesar's henchman Santi, who has been held captive, beaten and hooded in the house.
Malik drags him out of the house and down the street, where Sampierro meets them in the car. He takes Santi with him, leaving Malik on the street with an envelope of cash for his troubles. Unbeknownst to Cesar, Malik takes this opportunity to take a cab to the gas station's restroom where the hash was stowed, then delivers it to Ryad. As they drive back to the prison, Malik tells him about his plan to get involved with Jordi's drug smuggling operation, moving the hash on the freeway. Then they hug and Malik goes back to jail. Right on time. It is 7 p.m.
In the yard, Cesar notices that the Arabs are growing in numbers and that his authority is in jeopardy. Malik suggests that Ibanez send a couple of his more high-stung guards to the Arab cell block to hassle them as a show of Cesar's force. His plan works perfectly and Hassan, leader of the Arab gang, pulls Malik aside and asks him his help in getting the harassment to stop.
Malik tells him he will see what he can do and sets up a meeting between Hassan and Cesar. Cesar wants something from Hassan he wants Hassan to set up a meeting in Marseilles with Brahim Lattrache, a major player in the Arab mob on the outside. If this meeting is arranged, the harassment will stop. On the outside, Ryad is driving the second car in the hash caravan when he is ambushed by Latif, an Egyptian who also uses the same route and has become aware of the operation. Latif and his men kidnap Ryad and take the goods. Malik and Jordi, recruiting the help of the Arabs, stake out and attack Latif's brother-in-law in the prison showers. After beating the brother-in-law and his men, Malik and Jordi force him to tell Latif to return Ryad and the drugs.
Malik, on his next leave, is instructed by Cesar to take the meeting with Lattrache in Marseilles. His job is to ask him how much it would cost for the Arab mob on the outside to cut ties with the Italian Mob. Ryad is late showing up at the prison to pick up Malik. He is still upset over the kidnapping, doubly so now that Latif has since blocked their routes and they cannot move their hash.
In Marseilles, Malik tells Lattrache of Cesar's proposal, and asks his price for cutting ties with the Italians. In exchange, Bahim would be guaranteed a take in the Corsican mafia's percentage in their casino earnings, an offer that has been backed by the Corsican high council.
Bahim informs Malik that there is a rat in the Corsican mafia, feeding information to the Italians, and that if Cesar can clean house, then their deal is on. Before leaving, Malik takes the opportunity to ask a favor of Lattrache, to simply tell Latif that he is in business with Malik.
Lattrache agrees, and on the drive back to the prison, Malik tells Ryad that he needs to get over his anger at Latif and take a meeting with him. Now that Latif thinks that Ryad and Malik are in bed with Bahim, they should team up with Latif and combine their two drug smuggling businesses together, pooling all their resources and splitting the profits. Ryad is hesitant but knows it is the smart thing to do. Plus, his cancer has returned.
Inside, Cesar takes a meeting with his liaison to the outside Corsican mob, in which it becomes clear to Cesar that he is being slowly phased out of power by Jacky Marcaggi, the head of the Corsican Mob on the outside. After another tense encounter with Cesar, Malik attempts to get closer to the Arab gang. He instructs Ryad to secretly give part of his stake in the drug smuggling operation, to Moussab, an Imam linked to the gang. Ryad drives to a local Mosque where they believe Moussab will be. He leaves a bag of cash there for the Imam. In the prison, the Arabs confront Malik, suspicious of his motives. He tells Hassan, leader of the Arab gang, that the Corsicans control the guards, and that as long as that arrangement is in place, life for the Arabs on the inside will be tough. Hassan is skeptical of Malik, but agrees to do business with him as long as Malik deals with him directly, not through the Imam. Christmas comes to the prison, and Cesar brings Malik into his cell for a meeting. He has learned that Jacky Marcaggi is the rat mentioned by Lattrache and he wants Malik to put together a secret team to kill him in Paris during his next leave. If successful, Cesar will solidify his position in the Corsican pecking order. In return, Malik will serve directly under Cesar, running the operations in the casinos.
Malik tells Ryad of the proposal. Ryad's cancer has progressed. As he is going to die, he accepts the proposition. He is charged with assembling the team for the job, but he and Vettorri, who supervises the operation for Cesar, are not getting along. Ryad and Malik drive out in their van to meet up with Vettorri. But instead of being greeted by a team, it is only Ryad and Malik. They mace Vettorri on the spot, tie him up, and put him in the back of the van. After a shootout in Jacky's car, Malik puts Jacky in the back of the van and they drive to a secluded spot. Malik does not kill Jacky, but instead tells him that he was hired by Cesar and the still-bound Vettorri to do so. Malik leaves Jacky there to do as he wishes.
Instead of reporting back to the prison as instructed by the parole board, Malik spends the night at Ryad's house, in order to guarantee he will be sent to solitary upon his return.
During his time in solitary, we are shown that Vettorri was killed by Jacky in the van, the Corsicans in the prison began infighting over Cesar's betrayal to Jacky and began killing each other and Ibanez is arrested for taking bribes.
When Malik is released from solitary, he enters the yard with the Arabs, now in support of him having eliminated the preferential guard treatment of the Corsicans. Cesar is alone on the opposite side of the yard. He sees Malik and waves him over, but Malik ignores him. When Cesar crosses the yard to talk to him, two of the Arabs punch him to the ground. Cesar gets up and returns to his side of the yard alone.
Malik is released from prison. As he leaves he is given back the sole bill of money that was confiscated when he left. Outside three black cars with thé members of his crew are waiting for Malik on thé parking lot. Djamilla is also there with the baby, unaware of the armoured transport awaiting them. She greets Malik and offers to let him stay with them, and the two of them walk away from the prison, black cars following dutifully behind. |
