The Battle of Algiers (1965)
(La battaglia di Algeri)
Country: IT/ALG
Technical: bw 121/135m
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Cast: Brahim Haggiag, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi
Synopsis:
A document of Algerian rebellion against French rule during the fifties, culminating in the achievement of independence in 1962.
Review:
A unique film in that it succeeds both as reportage and as emotional polemic: the handheld shooting style, journalistic presentation of dates and edicts, the use of non-professional actors, then the music, the sudden intimate close-ups. And although the Algerians come over more sympathetically, this is clearly because they were the underdogs. Overall balance is achieved, the underlying moral succinctly stated by Jean Martin as Colonel Mathieu: does France stay in Algeria despite the clear determination of the latter's people that it will not? If yes, then draconian methods of suppression have no alternative. By the end of the century the tactics of the FLN held a new resonance, ironically since in part Islamic fundamentalism was a result of Algeria's failure to exploit its freedom successfully.
(La battaglia di Algeri)
Country: IT/ALG
Technical: bw 121/135m
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Cast: Brahim Haggiag, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi
Synopsis:
A document of Algerian rebellion against French rule during the fifties, culminating in the achievement of independence in 1962.
Review:
A unique film in that it succeeds both as reportage and as emotional polemic: the handheld shooting style, journalistic presentation of dates and edicts, the use of non-professional actors, then the music, the sudden intimate close-ups. And although the Algerians come over more sympathetically, this is clearly because they were the underdogs. Overall balance is achieved, the underlying moral succinctly stated by Jean Martin as Colonel Mathieu: does France stay in Algeria despite the clear determination of the latter's people that it will not? If yes, then draconian methods of suppression have no alternative. By the end of the century the tactics of the FLN held a new resonance, ironically since in part Islamic fundamentalism was a result of Algeria's failure to exploit its freedom successfully.
(La battaglia di Algeri)
Country: IT/ALG
Technical: bw 121/135m
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Cast: Brahim Haggiag, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi
Synopsis:
A document of Algerian rebellion against French rule during the fifties, culminating in the achievement of independence in 1962.
Review:
A unique film in that it succeeds both as reportage and as emotional polemic: the handheld shooting style, journalistic presentation of dates and edicts, the use of non-professional actors, then the music, the sudden intimate close-ups. And although the Algerians come over more sympathetically, this is clearly because they were the underdogs. Overall balance is achieved, the underlying moral succinctly stated by Jean Martin as Colonel Mathieu: does France stay in Algeria despite the clear determination of the latter's people that it will not? If yes, then draconian methods of suppression have no alternative. By the end of the century the tactics of the FLN held a new resonance, ironically since in part Islamic fundamentalism was a result of Algeria's failure to exploit its freedom successfully.