Movies - The Battle of Algiers

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	Movies - The Battle of Algiers

The Battle of Algiers (in Italian, La Battaglia di Algeri) is a 1966 black-and-white film by Gillo Pontecorvo based on the Algerian War of Independence from 1954 until 1962 against the French occupation.

Tagline: The Revolt that Stirred the World!

Subject matter

The film depicts an episode in the war of independence in the then French colony of Algeria, in the capital city of Algiers. It is loosely based on the account of one of the military commanders of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), Sadi Yacef, in his memoir Souvenirs de la Bataille d'Alger. The book, written by Yacef while a prisoner of the French, was meant as propaganda to boost morale among FLN militants. After independence, Yacef was released and became a part of the new government. The Algerian government gave its backing to have a film version of his memoirs made, and he approached the Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo and screenwriter Franco Solinas with the proposed project. The two dismissed Yacef's initial treatment as too biased toward the Algerian side. While openly sympathetic with the cause of Algerian nationalism, they insisted on dealing with the events from a distanced point-of-view.

The film reconstructs the events of November 1954 to December 1960 in Algiers during the Algerian War of Independence, beginning with the organization of revolutionary cells in the Casbah. From there, it depicts a widening conflict between native Algerians and French colonists in which the two sides exchange acts of intensifying violence, leading to the introduction of French paratroopers to root out the FLN. The paratroops are depicted as "winning" the battle by neutralizing the whole FLN leadership through assassination or capture. However, the film ends with a coda, depicting demonstrations and rioting by native Algerians for independence, in which it is suggested that though the French have won the Battle of Algiers, they have lost a wider war.

The narrative is composed mostly by illustrations of the tactics of both the FLN insurgency and the French counter insurgency, as well as the uglier incidents in the national liberation struggle. It unflinchingly shows atrocities being committed by both sides against civilians. The FLN is shown taking over the Casbah through use of summary execution of native Algierian criminals and others considered traitors, as well as using terrorism to harass civilian French colonials. The French colonialists are shown using lynch mobs and indiscriminate violence against natives. Paratroops are shown employing torture, intimidation, and murder to combat the FLN and MNA insurgents.

Refraining from the conventions of the historical epic, Pontecorvo and Solinas chose not to focus the narrative on one protagonist, but several characters based on figures active in the conflict. The film begins and ends from the point of view of Ali la Pointe, played by Brahim Hagiag, who corresponds to the historical figure of the same name. He is a common criminal radicalized while in prison and is recruited to the FLN by military commander El-hadi Jafar, a fictionalized version of Saadi Yacef played by himself.

Other main protagonists include the young boy Petit Omar, a street urchin who serves as a messenger for the FLN; Larbi Ben M'hidi, one of the top leaders of the FLN, who is used in the film mainly to give the political rationale for the insurgency; Halima, Zohra, and Hassiba, a trio of female FLN militants called to carry out a revenge attack. In addition, The Battle of Algiers used thousands of Algerian extras in bit parts and crowd shots; the effect Pontecorvo intended was to create the impression of the Casbah's residents as a "choral" protagonist, communicating to the viewer through chanting, wailing, and physical affect.

The Algerian revolution has been called by many the bloodiest revolution in the history of the world and is often credited as the beginning of bloody post-World War II colonial revolutions, which also include the revolutions against the French in the Vietnam War. Although the revolutionary forces in Algiers were ultimately routed by the French Army, the long and bloody conflict throughout the country led to the French withdrawal from Algeria. This French loss was the first in a series of humiliating French defeats in colonial wars. As leftists, the theme of showing the inevitable demise of colonialism as an instrument of Western imperialism was central to Pontecorvo and Solinas's treatment of The Battle of Algiers.

Style and technical details

The Battle of Algiers was made in a style related to Italian neorealism, French cinéma vérité, and Soviet socialist realism, cinematic movements that aspired to create a sense of realism in the depiction of the lives of ordinary people.

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