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The Battle of Algiers This article is about the film. For information on the real-life battle, see Algerian War of Independence.The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 black-and-white film by Gillo Pontecorvo based on the Algerian War of Independence from 1954 until 1962 against the French occupation.

Subject matter

The film depicts an episode in the war of independence in the then French colony of Algeria, in the capital city of Algiers. It is loosely based on the account of one of the military commanders of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), Saadi Yacef, in his memoir . The book, written by Yacef while a prisoner of the French, was meant as propaganda to boost morale among FLN militants. After independence, Yacef was released and became a part of the new government. The Algerian government gave its backing to have a film version of his memoirs made, and he approached the Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo and screenwriter Franco Solinas with the proposed project. The two dismissed Yacef's initial treatment as too biased toward the Algerian side. While openly sympathetic with the cause of Algerian nationalism, they insisted on dealing with the events from a distanced point-of-view.

The film reconstructs the events of November 1954 to December 1960 in Algiers during the Algerian War of Independence, beginning with the organization of revolutionary cells in the Casbah. From there, it depicts a widening conflict between native Algerians and French colonists in which the two sides exchange acts of intensifying violence, leading to the introduction of French paratroopers to root out the FLN. The paratroops are depicted as "winning" the battle by neutralizing the whole FLN leadership through assassination or capture. However, the film ends with a coda, depicting demonstrations and rioting by native Algerians for independence, in which it is suggested that though the French have won the Battle of Algiers, they have lost a wider war.

The narrative is composed mostly by illustrations of the tactics of both the FLN insurgency and the French counter insurgency, as well as the uglier incidents in the national liberation struggle. It unflinchingly shows atrocities being committed by both sides against civilians. The FLN is shown taking over the Casbah through use of summary execution of native Algierian criminals and others considered traitors, as well as using terrorism to harass civilian French colonials. The French colonialists are shown using lynch mobs and indiscriminate violence against natives. Paratroops are shown employing torture, intimidation, and murder to combat the FLN and MNA insurgents.

Refraining from the conventions of the historical epic, Pontecorvo and Solinas chose not to focus the narrative on one protagonist, but several characters based on figures active in the conflict. The film begins and ends from the point of view of Ali la Pointe, played by Brahim Hagiag, who corresponds to the historical figure of the same name. He is a common criminal radicalized while in prison and is recruited to the FLN by military commander El-hadi Jafar, a fictionalized version of Saadi Yacef played by himself.

Other main protagonists include the young boy Petit Omar, a street urchin who serves as a messenger for the FLN; Larbi Ben M'hidi, one of the top leaders of the FLN, who is used in the film mainly to give the political rationale for the insurgency; Halima, Zohra, and Hassiba, a trio of female FLN militants called to carry out a revenge attack. In addition, used thousands of Algerian extras in bit parts and crowd shots; the effect Pontecorvo intended was to create the impression of the Casbah's residents as a "choral" protagonist, communicating to the viewer through chanting, wailing, and physical affect.

The Algerian revolution has been called by many the bloodiest revolution in the history of the world and is often credited as the beginning of bloody post-World War II colonial revolutions, which also include the revolutions against the French in the Vietnam War. Although the revolutionary forces in Algiers were ultimately routed by the French Army, the long and bloody conflict throughout the country led to the French withdrawal from Algeria. This French loss was the first in a series of humiliating French defeats in colonial wars. As leftists, the theme of showing the inevitable demise of colonialism as an instrument of Western imperialism was central to Pontecorvo and Solinas's treatment of , and Soviet socialist realism. The film is based on actual events, though it makes use of composite characters and changes the names of certain historical figures. For instance, the character "Colonel Mathieu" is a composite of several French military figures active in the actual Algers counterinsurgency effort, primarily Jacques Massu.

The film has been hailed for its stunning visual impact and immediacy, especially in its scenes of Algerian city life and large-scale public protest and rioting. This is a reflexion of the influence of Soviet directors Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin and newsreel footage upon Pontecorvo's direction , Pontecorvo and cinematographer Marcello Gatti filmed on black and white stock, and experimented with various techniques to give the film the look of newsreel and documentary footage. The effect was convincing enough that American reels carried a boastful disclaimer, that "not one foot" of newsreel footage was used.

Aiding the sense of realism and impact, Pontecorvo and Solinas spent two years in Algiers scouting locations, especially those areas where the events to be depicted in the film actually took place. Having Saadi Yacef as a guide, he learned about the culture and customs of the residents. Pontecorvo chose to cast almost entirely from the non-professional Algerian Arabs or Kabyles he met, and picked them primarily based on their physical appearance and emotional affect (as a consequence, many of their lines were dubbed). The sole professional actor in the film was Jean Martin, who played Col. Matthieu, a little known French actor who ironically lost several jobs due to his outspoken stance against his government's actions in Algeria.

In , a telling of the Battle of Algiers from the perspective of a disenchanted French paratrooper, and Saadi Yacef's memoirs that told it from the FLN's perspective. This provided the basis for the film's "symmetry" between scenes of insurgents and counter-insurgents at play. Further, Solinas began the by jotting down "flashes of ideas" on a blackboard, which became the basis for scenes; this may explain the "episodic" feel of the movie. As for his attitude toward the French antagonists, Solinas sought to em France in the character of Matthieu - who is "elegant and cultured," according to Solinas, because "the West is neither inelegant nor uncultured."

Sounds (both effects and music) play an important part within the film. Pontecorvo states in several interviews that he spent much of his time editing thinking of motifs for the score. These motifs were eventually incorporated into the orchestral score by Ennio Morricone to en the emotional impact and to create parallels between scenes; scenes of French and Algerians civilians being killed carry the same elegiac tune. In addition, indigenous Algerian drumming was used rather than dialogue in a scene in which female FLN militants prepare for a bombing mission. Pontecorvo also used the sounds of gunfire, helicopters, and truck engines whirring to symbolize the French approach to the battle, while and bomb blasts, ululation, wailing, and chanting symbolize the Algerian approach.

for both its technical merits and its relatively even-handed portrayal of combatants on both sides of the struggle in Algiers. It won the Venice Film Festival Grand Prize and was nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Screenplay (Gillo Pontecorvo and Franco Solinas), Best Director (Gillo Pontecorvo), and Best Foreign Language Film.

This has not stopped the film from producing considerable political controversy, however. The film was banned in France for many years beginning in 1966, and scenes of torture were cut from the original American and British releases as incendiary toward the French. The popularity and sympathetic treatment of the FLN in often dismayed former French colonists of Algiers (the pieds-noirs) and French army troops. Among those French public figures who have denounced the film include Gen. Paul Aussaresses (a commander of the French counterinsurgency, who wrote a book, , challenging the film's portrayal of events) and Jean-Marie Le Pen, a right-wing politician in France and former paratrooper in Algeria.

Beginning in the late 1960s, gained a reputation for inspiring political violence internationally, and in particular the tactics of urban guerrilla warfare and terrorism. The release of The Battle of Algiers was contemporary to several wars viewed as national liberation struggles against colonial and imperial powers, as well as a rising tide of left-wing radicalism in the Western nations during which a significant minority expressed interest in taking up armed struggle.

Among Third World groups, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the broader Palestinian nationalist movement may be among the best known of those who have made use of as a discussion piece, propaganda film, and training aid of sorts. This may be attributable to pre-existing affinities between the FLN and PLO, as both groups were Arab secular nationalists, fostered in exile by the President of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Indeed, Palestinian exile intellectual Edward Said is known for his relationship with one of the FLN's theorists, Frantz Fanon; Said also narrated one of the special features on the Criterion release of to "pick up the gun" in the late 1960s. In the United States, the Maoist Weather Underground and revolutionary black nationalist Black Panther Party (particularly the section that became the Black Liberation Army) were known for their affinity for the film. In Northern Ireland, the film is believed to have influenced young members of the Irish Republican Army to split the group and form the Provisional IRA.

As such, international politicians of right-wing inclinations have criticized as mere communist and terrorist propaganda. Often cited is Gillo Pontecorvo and Franco Solinas's memberships in the Italian Communist Party (though both had split from the Party by the time of the making of the film).

In 2003, the film again made the news after the US Directorate for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict at The Pentagon offered a screening of the film on August 27. A flyer for the screening stated the following:

dlHow to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas. Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range. Women plant bombs in cafes. Soon the entire Arab population builds to a mad fervor. Sound familiar? The French have a plan. It succeeds tactically, but fails strategically. To understand why, come to a rare showing of this film.

According to the Defense Department official in charge of the screening, "Showing the film offers historical insight into the conduct of French operations in Algeria, and was intended to prompt informative discussion of the challenges faced by the French."

The screening of the film at that time lent new currency to the film, as well as fresh controversy to the American-led campaign in Iraq. The screening came only months after U.S. President George W. Bush's May 1, 2003 "Mission Accomplished" speech proclaiming the end of "major hostilities" in Iraq. Opponents of President Bush cited the Pentagon screening as proof of a growing concern within the Defense Department about the growth of an Iraqi insurgency, belying Bush's triumphant speech. One year later, the media's revelations regarding the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal would lead critics of the war would to cite parallels between French use of torture in the film and "aggressive interrogation" of prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison.

At the time, both legal and "pirate" VHS and DVD versions of the film were available in the United States and elsewhere. These were often of low quality, however, due to aging, neglected master stocks, mis-chosen fonts and colors for subtitles, and the inherent limitations of film-to-video transfer. Fortunately for those whose interest had been piqued by discussions of in coverage of the Iraq occupation, an Italian film restoration had already been undertaken in 1999. The restored print allowed for Rialto Pictures to simply acquire the distribution rights for a December 1, 2003 theatrical re-release in the United Kingdom, a January 9, 2004 theatrical re-release in the United States, and May 19, 2004 in France.

The Rialto Pictures distributed re-release made its rounds at art-house theaters and the festival circuit and was generally thought as a successful "victory lap" for the film and its makers. A small number of festival showings in the United Kingdom were accompanied by a live soundtrack performed by electronica group Asian Dub Foundation. In the United States, the re-release was accompanied by a number of discussions of the film's influence and impact by both political and film commentators. And in a twist of fate, among the best receptions for the restored and re-released Battle of Algiers was at the Cannes Film Festival, in France -- the nation that had originally banned the film.

On October 12, 2005, a Criterion Collection 3-disc DVD based on the restored print was released to the public. Among the extras include former United States counter-terrorism advisors Richard A. Clarke and Michael A. Sheehan discussing depiction of terrorism and guerrilla warfare, and directors Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Julian Schnabel, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone discussing its influence on film.

is currently being pursued by producer Basil Iwanyk. The new film would include an American character, presumably a journalist or United Nations worker. The idea of a remake has not been well-received by the movie's proponents, however, who fear that it will be "Hollywood-ised" (Like the 1998 movie ) and lose its revolutionary edge. Evidence for this allegation is the consideration of actors for the American role, with names such as Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Leonardo di Caprio, and Sean Penn being passed down the grapevine.

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