Sympathy for César Luciani (Spoliers)

Not necessarily sorry for him, but pathos for the generation of old school criminals who are now seemingly redundant. Cesar's story is that of a Greek tragedy; a man of considerable power who fails to adapt to contemporary crime. Cesar was a callous man who warrants no pity, but it's simply astonishing to watch his tenuous grip of power lessen as the film progresses.

When that happened I actually thought that I couldn't remember seeing a film where I found it so satisfying to see someone get their comeuppance.

I have a hatred for the old generation of gangsters because I feel they have a glamorous image and status that they don't deserve.

I felt it was so much better having Muslim criminals taking over because at least you don't have to put up with all the working-class sentimentality towards Muslim criminals.

Noirkiss 3 -

Of course you feel sorry for Luciani; his "son" has just betrayed him. Cesar, aside from being the best actor in the movie (and engaging our sympathies, no matter how morally bad), and who though totally ruthless (in a ruthless environment), provides protection, structure, purpose, family, work--in sum, a life for Malik. He is his prison father (if not his only father, being an orphan). Cesar may say he doesn't care for Malik's feelings, but then why does he ask about them, if not unconsciously caring about him? Plus Cesar has always shown in the way he has spoken to him that he cares. Frankly, though, it was a director's set-up to have him walk towards the Arabic prisoners. A smart, wily guy like Cesar would not have done this because 1), he was unprotected, 2), this was an invasion of the other group's territory, and 3), Cesar was the father and wouldn't have deigned to step down to the son's/underling's level. That's what made the whole scene a little surprising; it should have been handled in a different way that didn't debase Cesar's street smarts. But then again, perhaps this is Cesar's "slip"--letting his feelings show for this "son." O.K., I could accept this staging a little, as it lets Cesar humanity show and therefore makes him vulnerable to the ruthlessness he has "bred" in his own offspring. There's your Greek tragedy, like the others have mentioned here--violence coming back to haunt the violent within the family over power.

NLO

i think anytime you see an old man get hit by a stronger, younger guy, there's an instinctive reaction to it. similar to seeing a man hit a woman or whatever. society teaches you that it's wrong on a basic level. if you can justify it in your head that the guy deserved it (and he definitely did), then you can get over it, but i think the first reaction is always "man that's messed up. you can't treat elderly people like that."

In the penultimate scene, its very subtle, but notice how, when he approaches
his customary bench: its occupied, by two people who don't even look up when
he approaches it. This is possibly overlooked when you see it the first time,
but this shows (before he's physically knocked down), that he's lost any power
he had inside the prison. That bench would have been known to be "his" and no
one would have dared to sit at it, had he still retained his power.

Another nice touch by the director.

i agree. no one would argue that he didn't deserve it, but i felt sorry for him. a few things: look again at what he's wearing. it's his same coat that he's had on the whole film, but this time he has no shirt on beneath it. he looks weak and exposed.
also the way the scene is set up. luciani is in the middle of the shot the whole time, filmed from a distance. he looks small and weak against the tough environment but he is the only thing our eye is drawn to, naturally inviting our sympathy.
and a few posts here have seen luciani as either blinded by hubris or "softening" to malik. i disagree on both counts. to me, fear seems to be his primary motivator. from the scene with his lawyer where he sneers at his delivery of "good" news to his suspicious probing of the loyal coffee-boy where malik shrewdly asks what kind of answer he wants from him. luciani doesn't know, he's just suspicious.
this final decision to cross the yard, which i think is rightly recognized as out of character for a seemingly street smart mob boss, seems to me to be the last act of a desperate man. he invested in malik and now has nothing left. i think we recognize his fear and that again increases our sympathy.

Malik's face clearly shows guilt or some kind of feelings that he's not totally comfortable with what he's done but by this point he's adept at ignoring his conscience and doing what need to be done!

I did initially feel sorry for him, seeing him fall down and then stumble back to his bench alone, but then I remembered the years of cruelty and abuse he subjected Malik to. Cesar may have given Malik respect and a position of power but in private it was a different story, I'm not just referring to the violent outbursts but to the constant insults, accusations and threats. After all that I feel a punch in the gut amounts to nothing more than a slap on the wrist. As for betraying Cesar, I think that was reasonable considering he never had any choice in working for the Corsicans in the first place, it was a matter of life or death, and that first murder he committed haunted him forever more. Furthermore, we shouldn't forget that Cesar betrayed many of those close to him towards the end.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." - Jimi Hendrix