Director Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 “The Battle of Algiers/La battaglia di Algeri” remains a dynamic, overpowering protest against French imperialism. Shot in black-and-white neo-realist style in Algiers with nonprofessional actors from the actual 1950s events, the narrative follows the National Liberation Front (FLN) mobilizing resistance to French colonial oppression, including torture. Through various guerrilla tactics, including military assassinations and bombing civilian sites, the FLN fights to gain independence while confronting escalating French retaliation. The charged political commentary remains strikingly relevant to historical and contemporary terrorism, especially involving urban targets.
Set in Algiers’ Kasbah between 1954 to 1957, the narrative begins in 1957 before flashing back to 1954. Resistance leader Ali la Pointe (Brahim Hadjadj) inspires and coordinates fierce retaliation against French imperialism. Guiding the French response, the equally determined, brutal paratrooper commander Colonel Mathieu (Jean Martin) resolves through any means necessary, including brutal torture of captives, to crush the insurgency. Not for the faint of heart, FLN bombings at cafes and other forms of retaliation by the liberation activists are as terrifying as those wielded by their antagonists. The multi-award winning composer Ennio Morricone adds a formidable score and soundtrack that, in his dynamic interpretation, intensify the action. Not content to leave history behind, Pontecorvo concludes with footage of 1960s pro-independence demonstrations and acknowledgement of freedom in 1962, a development not without continued political turmoil.
Shot on location in the Kasbah and still ranked as among the best politically inspired urban warfare productions ever staged, co-writer Saadi Yacef (Drafar in the film) drew on his own prison experiences and those he witnessed. Convincingly realistic and boldly accurate, the film was released in the U.S. with a disclaimer stating it presented a dramatization of events. As an amusing side note, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” while in hiding in Baktan Cross, California, Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) watches a clip from “The Battle of Algiers,” enhancing its contemporary relevance. In Arabic & French with English subtitles, “The Battle of Algiers/La battaglia di Algeri” will screen at Webster University’s Winifred Moore auditorium two nights, Tuesday, September 1, at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, September 13, at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit the film series website.