Archieved Movie Review: the Battle Of Algiers
Rarely it seems can a film delve deeply into history, while remaining just as creative and poetic in its style. The late Italian film Director Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 black and white French Language film “The Battle of Algiers” does just that. It portrays a group of revolutionary Guerrilla fighters, the National Liberation Front (FLN), in the then French occupied Algeria, an Islamic country and then French protectorate in Northern Africa, that soon mushrooms into an insurgency and then a national movement against the 130 year occupation of their country by the French Military and upper class elites.
Controversy over the scenes of torture and the way in which the French colonial occupation was portrayed were so great, that the film when released in 1966 was banned in France. Violent organizations such as the Black Panthers, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and third world Guerrilla groups, as well as scholars of colonialism and military strategists have used this film to study the inner workings of a classic insurgency. Even screened at the U.S pentagon in 2003 leading up to the invasion in Iraq to understand these types of resistance movement, is available (and has been for about three to four years now) in a three disc set packed with extra features.
The story takes place over the course of the final eight years (1958-1962) of France’s occupation in the Muslim area of the city of Algiers, where the forces of French government, military, and high society, rule over the disenfranchised native Algerian population. Opening in 1957, after a withered and worn down prisoner has been “interrogated” by the French military, and then forced to lead them to the hideout of top FLN leader Ali La pointe. When he and a small group of others are cornered, the film flashes back to 1954, when Ali was an illiterate and rough- hewn street criminal who is arrested and thrown in jail. After witnessing the brutal execution of a political prisoner, Ali is introduced to the Nationalist and anti-colonial attitudes that are then simmering beneath the surface of Algerian society.
Once out of prison five months later and with revolutionary zeal within him awakened, the young Ali joins the ranks of the FLN, which is at the time making the shift from a small underground group that espouses Islamic and nationalist rhetoric, to one of active and often violent aggression, with the goal of driving the French out of Algeria and becoming an in dependent nation.
Soon attacks against French security forces spread throughout the city. The French answer with a heavy handed and brutal show of muscle. Bombings and assassinations by the FLN begin gaining ground and sympathies from the Algerians crammed into the quarters of the city, as French and Algerian civilians are caught in the crossfire. The French keep responding with raids, onerous security measures, and torture (that is sometimes difficult to watch), as the FLN becomes more deadly and gains the hearts and minds of Algerians all throughout the country.
The movie brilliantly shows the plight of the Algerian people as well as the gruesome and extreme tactics of those fighting for Independence, but also the horror and frustration that a strong proud military superpower trying to defeat a third world band of Guerrillas endures, and how a robust occupying military is ultimately brought to its knees by those they have ruled over.
However the story and insights are just one stroke of genius that this film provides. Entirely spoken in French with English subtitles, it makes one feel as if they are in the middle of this real life struggle, and without a cast of big name stars to add Hollywood Glamor. But its’ grittiness and cast of unknowns and real life Algerians (some who in real life actually participated in the Guerrilla movement) are virtues rather then faults, lending it all more credibility. Close-up camera shots aren’t used to show a familiar beautiful Hollywood face, but as a poetic device to show the despair and pain of a nation torn apart. The film has sort of a newsreel quality to it at times, but in reality there was not one frame of newsreel footage used in making the movie. Each scene was acted out, even the most dangerous.
Music is also used extremely effectively, matching the moods of each scene, slowly foreshadowing big turns in events, and capturing the devastating emotional grief at moments of tragedy.
When it comes to watching “The Battle of Algiers”, the more a viewer knows about the history of the actual French occupation , the more rewarding the experience of watching the film. One must pay close attention when watching. At the same time though the emotion and poetry of the story as well as the way it is shot is bound to catch the attention and strike the emotional cords of everyone.
First Disc of the DVD set contains the movie and two theatrical trailers. The second has features and interviews about the cinematic aspects of the film including discussions with such big name movie directors as Oliver Stone and Spike Lee. The third disc contains interviews and documentaries about the history of the conflict . A fifty-four page booklet comes with the set and provides even more insights into both the film and the history of the conflict.
