realizing the added value of having an arab who speaks corsican, cesar luciani (the prison godfather) asks malik el djebna (rahim) to be his eyes and ears when it comes to his gang's surroundings in their french prison. amidst a current power shift in the cultural makeup of the prison, the relationship between cesar and malik grows in significance after most of cesar's gang is disbanded. he is the last of cesar's old gang and still the only half arab/half corsican who is able to straddle the defined boundary that separates inmate interaction and ideology between races. malik, who works for no one but himself, uses the destablization of prison equlibrium to his own advantage.
allowed to be released for a couple parolled days, thanks to cesar's influence and power, malik runs errands for his boss in the outside world. during his first trip, malik finds the time to recoup a bag of drugs left behind by one of his arab inmate friends who sets up another one of his released friends (ryad) with a drug running job. upon arrival back in the prison, cesar suspects that malik has alterior interests and threatens him by taking a spoon to his eye and digging it into the socket. his second trip is no less frightening. after several failed attempts at "wacking" one of luciani's rival mob leaders, malik takes it upon himself to assasinate him and his entourage during the middle of the day. while shooting inside an armoured car, malik leaves physically unharmed but looses his sense of hearing momentarily.
the most valuable assets to malik's survival in prison are endangered. malik's eyes and ears are his own and they represent his unique way of seeing, hearing, and existing. when corrupted through the veil of gang order and supremacy he almost loses them completely; he becomes a pawn in the chess game of others. however, when malik uses his senses independently he stumbles upon spiritual freedoms that he has never felt before. its during his parolled trips that malik experiences an empowerment of being. riding above the clouds in an airplane and walking through the ocean along a beach are sensations that release malik from an imprisoned world of his own senses. at his actual prison release, malik is greeted as a new kingpin (in the shadow of cesar's fallen empire) by a convoy of trucks. instead of acknowledging them, malik turns to ryad's widowed wife and walks with her with open ears and eyes.
