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The Battle Of Algiers authentically recreates the life-and-death struggle that took place in Algiers from 1954 to 1957, when the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) began a guerrilla war against the French, using terrorism. The French sent paratroopers, which led to a regrettable catalogue of atrocities being committed by both sides. Unique, Award-winning, enthralling entertainment, The Battle Of Algiers is even more relevant in today's global political climate than ever before. EXTRAS "The Making of The Battle Of Algiers" an exclusive 20-minute interview with director Gillo Pontecorvo; "The Real Battle Of Algiers" an exclusive 20-minute interview with the film's co-producer, Saadi Yacef, himself a real-life leader of the FLN guerillas in Algiers. Extensive Photo Gallery featuring pictures from the filmmakers' personal archives;
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38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
immediate, shocking and absolutely essential viewing,
By
This review is from: The Battle Of Algiers (Special Edition) [DVD] [1965] (DVD)
Cited by many people, including the Pentagon as the most realistic war movie ever made, it was with no little expectation that I came to this film. To briefly sum up, it is the late 1950's, and various colonial empires across the globe are in steady decline, including that of France. In Algeria, Muslim nationalist are calling for a state of their own, free from the interference and suppression of the colonial French forces. Unfortunately, French right wingers are at the same time backing the many French settlers who have a vested interest in staying in the country. And so the scene is set for a bloody civil war.
The film initially deals with the conversion of young street hoodlum Ali La Pointe (Brahim Haggiag) to the cause of the FLN, the Algerian Liberation Front. However, from there the film broadens its scope as the FLN take the fight to the French, and the French authorities respond with equal violence. From here on in the film steadfastly refuses to back away from its subject matter, depicting the violence inflicted by both sides with equal disdain, from the effects on the local people of the FLN bombings to the draconian crackdowns instigated by the French in response to this. With the arrival of the French Foreign Legion, led by the charismatic Colonel Mathieu, played with steely hardness by Jean Martin, the battle becomes a cat and mouse game between the leaders of the FLN, and the colonel who believes that only by understanding the enemy can you defeat him (a good lesson, and one that a few people in power today could do to learn). The film uses a shaky hand held style and coupled with its grainy black and white palate gives it an almost documentary realism (if you caught the film half way through, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in fact watching a documentary). Also, borrowing techniques from the French New Wave and Italian Neo Realism (the use of non-professional actors, using real locations) enhances the realistic feel of the film. Even the dialogue, the way people talk and react to the things going on around them feels neither staged nor awkward. With a few outstanding set pieces, including a nail bitingly tense sequence in which a group of female FLN activist plant bombs around the city, this is one of the most well crafted and well delivered history lessons I have ever seen that forces the viewer to make some very uncomfortable judgments on the subject of colonialism and terrorism. Directed with amazing skill by Italian writer-director Gillo Pontecorvo, it was banned in France for many years for fear that it could spark national unrest, it is a film that remains relevant today as it was when it was first made.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The battle for hearts and minds,
By
This review is from: The Battle Of Algiers (Special Edition) [DVD] [1965] (DVD)
The film is a remarkably balanced portrayal of the initiation and development of a street thug Ali La Pointe as he is taken up into the FLN movement.We see the terror on both sides,of the State's institutional aggression-guillotine,torture,bombs,curfews,checkpoints,searches, and the random bombing of civilian areas,the random shootings of civilans and police in the streets by the FLN recruits. The mobilization of crowd scenes is very effective,the documentary approach to the subject matter where key moments,e.g. `the milk-bar killings',the quelling of popular uprisings, are reconstructed or there is insertion of documentary news footage,make this film a vital historical document by a major film maker.
Mathieu,the Colonel of the paratroopers, uses methods he learned in the Resistamce of France against the Nazis. He fails to see that the Germans occupied France as the French are occupying Algeria,the FLN (the Algerian National Liberation Front) are similarly a resistance movement designed to overcome the unjust occupation of Algeria by a colonial power.Both sides use equally cruel methods,but rebellion leading to popular uprisings on a national scale are hard to overcome. The decline of colonialism is on the rise and the French have already met their Waterloo at Dien Bien Phu.The French have in the name of civilization exploited Algeria for 150 years but without benefitting the native Arabs,who do not gain access to jobs or education.The time has come for Algeria to become an independent nation. This black and white film using people involved in the Algerian resistance,non acting natives and one or two professional actors made a timeless template for the growth of resistance movements,the rise of terrorism,the attack against civilians in modern warfare in 20th century.This ranks as one of the 2 or 3 best black and white films of all time,including The Gospel According to St.Matthew and Paths of Glory.The vividly realistic dramatization of political events in the actual locations where they occurred in the Casbah, and the avenues of the French quarter,with such intimate immediacy has never been bettered.The acting of Mathieu(Martin)as a hero of charismatic proportions, gives a rational voice to French colonialists and is superbly done and gives a balance to the film,only the system he represents is of a power now ebbing away.This film still speaks with an amazing force, 35 years after I first saw it.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Most Savage Indictment Of War Ever Seen.,
By
This review is from: The Battle Of Algiers (Special Edition) [DVD] [1965] (DVD)
Forget your star-studded war vehicles (And yes, I'm looking at you "Saving Private Ryan"), they basically lose the plot with their big-budget glitziness. Grit isn't something you can magically conjure up with money, it comes from having a familiarity with the very grit you're filming, such as what Gillo Pontecorvo had when filming "La Battaglia Di Algieri". Commissioned by the Algerian Government themselves, the film tell the story of Algerian Revolution; as in the French Government's use of the French Foreign Legion and the brutality that both sides use to swing things their way.
You'd expect a film funded by the Algerian Government to be firmly on their side - Banish this thought from your memory, Pontecorvo ensures that a close facsimile of the truth is presented here. The Algerian National Liberation Front shoots policemen indiscriminately, the insidious Colonel Mathieu tortures those he wants information from, the Algiers Police Chief orders bombings of NLF hotspots.... Bloody and unpleasant, but never anything less than all-powerful. So convincing is the film and it's premise that the Pentagon screened this film for Army Offices in 2003 to show the struggle US Forces would face in Iraq - The use of force to achieve goals, but losing Hearts and Minds in the process. If the Pentagon knew the score, why should you remain in the dark and not see this film? As this version of the film has yet to be released, I am hopeful that the same restored print used by Criterion for their earlier deluxe DVD will be used, and hence we will be in for a treat. Not only highly recommended, but should be mandatory for those who wish a greater understanding in the dynamics of struggle.
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