The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Most movies take the side of either the victor or the oppressed. Surprisingly, this film gives a fair representation of the event said to have snowballed the fight for Algerian Independence. In the late 1950s, many ethnic Arab Muslims from Casbah of the Arab quarters started showing resistance to the French colonialists. FLN was a guerrilla organisation with a ragtag collection of delinquents, petty thieves and activists who created unrest in Algiers who started planting bombs and shooting of policemen in the European quarters.
1957 Algiers was a bustling modern city with its cafes, entertainment outlets, gambling den and flesh trade. We can see that there was an apparent divide rooted in the society, between the Arab Muslims and the Western outlooking French, Pied-Noir and Jews; between the economically deprived and the well-to-do; the colonial masters and natives.
Most films of historical nature would usually include raw footage from newsreel or newsflash. In this presentation, however, the Italian director, Pontecorvo, decided to reenact the whole scene on location in the Casbah (Arab settlement), demonstration, bombing and all too near perfection and conviction. Pontecorvo, himself a communist, was hired by the subsequent ruling government to highlight their plight. As the presentation did a witch hunt the French and put them in a negative light, it was banned in France 3 years after its release. Both parties, the resistance and the police seem justified in their actions and understand that lives had to be sacrificed for the good of the nation.
In modern times, this tactic of urban guerrilla warfare, where the locals insurgents perform their mischief and hide under the cloak of anonymity amongst the town folk had been emulated by many resistance fighters from Castro, Guevara, Jammu-Kashmir all the way to Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, Pentagon had used this film as a teaching material to impress upon the problematic nature of peace finding missions.
Most movies take the side of either the victor or the oppressed. Surprisingly, this film gives a fair representation of the event said to have snowballed the fight for Algerian Independence. In the late 1950s, many ethnic Arab Muslims from Casbah of the Arab quarters started showing resistance to the French colonialists. FLN was a guerrilla organisation with a ragtag collection of delinquents, petty thieves and activists who created unrest in Algiers who started planting bombs and shooting of policemen in the European quarters.
1957 Algiers was a bustling modern city with its cafes, entertainment outlets, gambling den and flesh trade. We can see that there was an apparent divide rooted in the society, between the Arab Muslims and the Western outlooking French, Pied-Noir and Jews; between the economically deprived and the well-to-do; the colonial masters and natives.
Most films of historical nature would usually include raw footage from newsreel or newsflash. In this presentation, however, the Italian director, Pontecorvo, decided to reenact the whole scene on location in the Casbah (Arab settlement), demonstration, bombing and all too near perfection and conviction. Pontecorvo, himself a communist, was hired by the subsequent ruling government to highlight their plight. As the presentation did a witch hunt the French and put them in a negative light, it was banned in France 3 years after its release. Both parties, the resistance and the police seem justified in their actions and understand that lives had to be sacrificed for the good of the nation.
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