A Batalha de Argel

I wish I could locate a videocassette of this film--subtitled, not dubbed. The first time I saw it, I was a little put off by what I thought was a pompous disclaimer that "not one foot" of documentary footage had been used. But, in light of the finished product, it's a remarkable statement. If a film has better captured the harsh and ugly realities that are an inevitable part of a true revolutionary movement, I never saw it. It is greatly to its credit that one never gets a sense of "good guys vs. bad guys" here--only of people trapped in a truly impossible set of circumstances, from which no escape is possible without confrontation and bloodshed. It was depressing to see this movie in Berkeley in the early 70s, and hear the audience cheer the "heroic" Algerian revolutionaries while booing the "villainous" French, in view of the great pains that had been taken to present a balanced viewpoint. This film is thrilling, heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and beautiful--sometimes by turns and sometimes all at once. If you haven't seen it and it show up anywhere in the vicinityh, drop everything and go--and pray that it's subtitled and not dubbed. (There are dubbed prints and, as is usually the case, dubbing pretty nearly wrecks it.) This is a masterpiece.

An historian writing about the Algerian war against the French colonial authorities entitled his book "A Savage War of Peace". "The Battle of Algiers" provides many answers to that enigmatic title. It does not attempt to show us the entire war but centers on the city of Algiers. Even though you are told at the beginning that no documentary footage is used it is at times hard to believe as many of the images you see have a stark and often unsettling reality to them. Considering that this was a co production between Algeria and Italy the film is remarkable in that it does not turn itself a political tirade by taking sides. Instead the camera is a sort of neutral observer allowing us to witness events that spiraled from individual demonstrations to a full scale war of savage intensity. French officers who fought the Nazis a few years before degenerated into the mode of their former enemy while Algerians had no problems exploding bombs that would kill their own people. The camera shows no heros or villains but humanity in its darkest forms. This is a powerful film with superb direction and cinematography. It truly is one of a kind and once seen will never be forgotten.

An impressive and historical film in semi-documentary style . Set when the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) is leading the resistance in Algeria against their French rulers , the FLN that the colonial authorities believe, or want to believe, comprise only a small minority of the Muslim Algerian population in wanting Algerian independence. Subsequently , specifically violent incidents taking place in the battle in Algiers -between 1954 and the final time of independence in 1962- are introduced . The final scene happens some time later in 1960. There is a riot going on with soldiers shooting into the crowds. Finally , the Évian Accords were a set of peace treaties signed on 18 March 1962 in Évian-les-Bains, France, by France and the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic, the government-in-exile of FLN, which sought Algeria's independence from France . The Accords ended the 1954-1962 Algerian War with a formal cease-fire proclaimed for 19 March and formalized the status of Algeria as an independent nation and the idea of cooperative exchanges between the two countries . The movie ends with the captain narrating that on July 2, 1962 a new nation of Algeria was born . The French Colonel...who was forced even to torture ! . One of the many women...who stopped at nothing to win! The Algerian Street Boy...who became a rebel hero!. The Revolt that Stirred the World!

This seminal semi-documentary style film was well directed by Gillo Pontecorvo , who also participated in the script and the music (in this last aspect, advised by the great maestro Ennio Morricone) . The main characters were represented by Brahim Hadjadj , Yacef Saâdi and Jean Martin who was the only professional actor . The Battle of Algiers was inspired by the 1962 book Souvenirs de la Bataille d'Alger, an FLN military commander's account of the campaign, by Saadi Yacef . Yacef wrote the book while he was held as a prisoner of the French , and it served to boost morale for the FLN and other militants . After independence, the French released Yacef , who became a leader in the new government. The Algerian government backed adapting Yacef's memoir as a film . Salash Baazi , an FLN leader who had been exiled by the French, approached Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo and screenwriter Franco Solinas with the project . To meet the demands of film, The Battle of Algiers uses composite characters and changes the names of certain persons . For example , Colonel Mathieu is a composite of several French counterinsurgency officers , especially Jacques Massu . Saadi Yacef has said that Mathieu was based more on Marcel Bigeard , although the character is also reminiscent of Roger Trinquier . Accused of portraying Mathieu as too elegant and noble, screenwriter Franco Solinas denied that this was his intention . He said in an interview that the Colonel is "elegant and cultured, because Western civilization is neither inelegant nor uncultured". For The Battle of Algiers , Pontecorvo and cinematographer Marcello Gatti filmed in black and white and experimented with various techniques to give the film the look of newsreel and documentary film . The effect was so convincing that American releases carried a notice that "not one foot" of newsreel was used.

Pontecorvo's use of fictional realism enables the movie "to operate along a double-bind as it consciously addresses different audiences" . The film makes special use of television in order to link western audiences with images they are constantly faced with that are asserted to express the "truth". The film seems to be filmed through the point of view of a western reporter, as telephoto lenses and hand-held cameras are used, whilst "depicting the struggle from a 'safe' distance with French soldiers placed between the crowds and camera" .

La battaglia di Algeri (1966) is an excellent film which makes most political films seem intellectual by comparison in its use o of non-professional actors , realistic violence , gritty cinematography and a boldly propagandistic sense of social outrage . The motion picture was competently directed by Gillo Pontecorvo . Although Gillo made fewer than 20 films , he is regarded as one of Italy's greatest directors . He moved to France in 1938 to escape Italy's fascist racial laws . He eventually returned to Italy and led a Resistance brigade during WWII. After the war, he studied chemistry and worked as a journalist before becoming a film director; he started out making documentaries . His first feature film was ¨The Wide Blue Road¨. Pontecorvo was born into a Jewish family , as he directed ¨Kapo¨ that was one of the first films about the theme of Jewish holocaust and one of the more realistic in its recreation . Gillo subsequently directed this successful ¨Battle of Algiers¨ and ¨Queimada¨ with Marlon Brando and his final feature movie : ¨Ogro¨ , later on , he made Documentaries and Shorts . This ¨The Battle of Algiers¨ won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for three Academy Awards (in non-consecutive years, a unique achievement) : Best Foreign Language Film in 1967, and Best Screenplay (Gillo Pontecorvo and Franco Solinas) and Best Director (Gillo Pontecorvo) in 1969.

"Battle of Algiers" is simply one of the greatest films every made. If film making can be about truth as well as fantasy, then a movie that includes a title card telling viewers that there is not one foot of documentary or newsreel footage in it must deserve viewing.

"Battle of Algiers" contains scenes that seem so real, you suspect that they couldn't have been staged. When three Algerian women come down from the Casbah to plant bombs in the French quarter of the city, you can almost cut the tension with a knife. When the bombs go off, you think they must have been real bombs. And when you see the devastation they leave in their wake, you cannot fail to be moved. The massive rebellion in the streets at the end of the film also seems so real, you sit wondering how many extras must have been injured filming those scenes.

"Battle of Algiers" combines brilliant photography, crisp direction, an intriguing plot and some very fine acting. Throw in a terrific music score, splendid editing, impressive special effects and the best example ever of docudrama style production and you have a masterpiece of film making.

But film making is not nearly as important as human life and no film in general release today says more about America's current involvement in the middle east and many other parts of the world than this picture about the French in Algeria, made more than three decades ago.

Every American should view this film, then think about our current occupation of Iraq.

..who had lived through the real battle.

Director Pontecorvo and cinematographer Marcello Gatti are true geniuses who amazingly filmed the movie in black and white and experimented with various techniques to give the film the look of newsreel and documentary film and that too making it an engrossing n enlightening experience.

Although the rebels lost the Battle of Algiers, they won the Algerian War n their freedom from the French colonial regime.

This movie showed the impact of colonialism on daily lives.

The guy who played Ali is noteworthy, one of the rebel female has a sharp contour cheeks and the character lil Omar will always be remembered.

The torture of the rebel prisoners is the most poignant relevance to the recent ongoings worldwide.

The ironical aspect is that of the Colonel, who himself suffered torture by the Nazis in a concentration camp, now torturing common civilians to obtain information.