#91: The Battle Of Algiers

The Battle Of Algiers (Pontecorvo, 1965)

The immediately striking thing about The Battle of Algiers is that it's happening right now. It's the exact movie I've wanted to see made about the Iraq insurgency, only it's about the Algerian insurgency against the French Colonials fifty years ago. Not only is it realistic and true to the cultural nuances, it's not a propaganda film for any side. The camera plays strictly the role of the reporter. It shows what both the French and the FLN are doing and what they're thinking.

An outside military with superior force is pit against a local population with a determined minority of terrorists. One of the the terrorist leaders asserts that while terrorist attacks are a beginning to revolution, it will never be successful without action by the general population. So they wage a propaganda war, not only to win over the hearts and minds of the Algerian people, but to win world legitimacy.

Both sides are protrayed as brutal and inhumane, but also driven by military necessity. If anyone is portrayed as the victims it's the general Arab population in Algeria. They're faced with a choice between two evils, on one side an outside force that sees them as inferiors, on another side violent nationals who attack civilian targets and want to impose a religious dictatorship. They're just trying to live their lives, but if they take one side, they get attacked by the other, and if they try to take neither they get attacked by both. In a final parallel with the current wars, after the leaders of the insurgency are killed and there's a two year period of peace, violence breaks out again, and when the Algerian people get passionate about revolution, that's when they win their independence. (That's not a spoiler, cause it's historically true.)

For all it's ambition and scope, the film is remarkably personal and the characters remkarably three dimensional. The lack of a 'message' or obvious slant or agenda makes the film a lot more powerful than say, a Michael Moore or Steven Soderbergh film.

Rating: ***** / 5

20/101

On a side note, A Serious Man comes out on DVD tomorrow. I highly recommend it. It was my favorite film of 2009. (**** 1/2 / 5)

Next I'll try to get another of the ones I didn't like that much the first time out of the way. Maybe Nashville or Ikiru.