Stars: Brahim Haggiag, Jean Martin, Saadi Yacef

Director: Gillo Pontecorvo

Summary: Gillo Pontecorvo's intense study of terrorism was banned in France for fear of inciting civil unrest. It reconstructs the main political events in Algiers between 1954 and 1957.

Gillo Pontecorvo's presents a harrowing, documentary-style depiction of the Algerian's people's struggle to liberate themselves from France between 1954 and 1962. The film creates a stunning illusion of realism by combining actual newsreel footage with staged sequences featuring amateur and professional actors playing characters based on real people (including Saadi Yacef, the one-time leader of the FLN in occupied Algiers). With it's depiction of political torture and violence retaining every bit of the impact they had upon the film's original release, THE BATTLE FOR ALGIERS was re-released theatrically in 2003 to great acclaim and reevaluation. Winner of 11 International Film awards.

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Director Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 movie The Battle of Algiersconcerns the violent struggle in the late 1950s for Algerian independence from France, where the film was banned on its release for fear of creating civil disturbances. Certainly, the heady, insurrectionary mood of the film, enhanced by a relentlessly pulsating Ennio Morricone soundtrack, makes for an emotionally high temperature throughout. With the advent of the "war against terror" in recent years, the film's relevance has only intensified.

Shot in a gripping, quasi-documentary style, The Battle of Algiersuses a cast of untrained actors coupled with a stern voiceover. Initially, the film focuses on the conversion of young hoodlum Ali La Pointe (Brahim Haggiag) to FLN (the Algerian Liberation Front.) However, as a sequence of outrages and violent counter-terrorist measures ensue, it becomes clear that, as in Eisenstein's October, it is the Revolution itself that is the true star of the film.

Pontecorvo balances cinematic tension with grimly acute political insight. He also manages an even-handedness in depicting the adversaries. He doesn't flinch from demonstrating the civilian consequences of the FLN's bombings, while Colonel Mathieu, the French office brought in to quell the nationalists, is played by Jean Martin as determined, shrewd and, in his own way, honourable man. However, the closing scenes of the movie--a welter of smoke, teeming street demonstrations and the pealing white noise of ululations--leaves the viewer both intellectually and emotionally convinced of the rightfulness of the liberation struggle. This is surely among a fistful of the finest movies ever made. --David Stubbs

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	French
Region:	Region 0
Special Features:	Director Filmography, Picture Gallery, Scene Selection, Gillo Pontecorvo Interview
Subtitles:	English
Year:	1965
Release Date:	December 1, 2003
Runtime:	116 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	A G T D 001
Keywords:	World, War, Battle, French, Algiers, Cinema
Genre:	War