The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 black and white film directed by Gillo Pontecorvo based on the events during the Algerian War. It specifically focuses on the rise of the FLN in Algiers and takes on the perspective of the insurgents, mostly. This is a film so close to a documentary they show it to troops heading to Iraq to give them a sense of what they are facing. Its 50 years old and still getting viewers today for good reasons.
Summary/Spoilers:
The summary of this movie is basically a history lesson. The French inserted themselves into Algeria and set up a perfectly segregated city in Algiers, with the Casbah on one side and a whites-only sort of deal on the other. Something's brewing in the Casbah...a revolution! The National Liberation Front, a strictly underground insurgency organization, cooks up discreet plans that mobilizes everyone from women to children against the French. So commences guns hidden in fruit baskets, bombs sneaked in women's purses. This is urban guerrilla warefare, where every attack is a sneak attack. It might be considered dishonorable in traditional warfare. But then again, who defines these things. The French strike back with Colonel Mathieu's brilliant Operation Champagne. The NLF is headed by four men, one of whom is former minor offender Ali La Pointe, another is Saadi Yacef, who's actually played by Saadi Yacef (makes the film that much closer to a documentary). The French decide to cut the tapeworm at the head, and one by one they are hunted down. Finally it was just Ali La Pointe, a streetwise little revolutionary, a female bomber and another supporter squatting behind someone's bedroom wall, clutching a machine gun. meet their end in that little crevice.
Left to Right: Supporter, Bomber, Streetwise Kid, Ali
Thoughts:
One of those films that builds up slowly and sinks into you. The nature of insurgency warfare is scattered and incidental, yet the film manages to be coherent. By the second half you'll be firmly invested in the outcome of the revolution. The deaths are not tragic, on either sides. Or are they equally tragic. There are innocent colonists having a good time at a cafe blasted to oblivion, and there are heroic nationalists choosing martyrdom. The director is exceptional and portraying both sides (almost) equally. He obviously has a liberal bias. The colonel of the French, who would usually be the 'baddie' is a surprisingly rounded character. The keyword of the film is humane. Despite the bombings and killings on both sides, neither lost their driving ideologies. As the colonel says, "We are neither madmen nor sadists."
the good humoured colonel
Things that struck me:
The women bombers changing into French attire to really REALLY dramatic music:
Drums.Drums.Drums.Drums.
The casual and sudden violence in broad daylight, police shot by teenagers point-blank, police knifed in the throat at a street corner. Guns are hidden everywhere.
The final moments of the film were moving, triumphant. Although it felt like all the crowd scenes were shot all at once, at the same street corner.
'Long Live Algeria'
TL;DR:
French: Algierians! Surrender now or prepare to fight fight fight!
ALGERIANS used FLAGS. Its super-effective!
Bombings and shootings galore. The French win but the Algerians don't lose. Then they bust out their secret weapon of torn up bedsheets and the French blast off at the speed of light.
Its meaningful, vintage, historically relevant, well-acted. Watch and be educated.
I had the good fortune of watching a big screen showing (thanks to my urban theory course again), but I imagine the effect won't lessen with screen size, so here you go:
The Battle of Algiers
