★ 7 / 10
It's the mid 1950s and the population of
CinemaSerf
It's the mid 1950s and the population of Algeria are increasingly determined to break free from the colonial administration of France. From one perspective…
It's the mid 1950s and the population of Algeria are increasingly determined to break free from the colonial administration of France. From one perspective it's a fight for freedom, from the other a response to dangerous insurrectionism. What makes this drama stand out is the degree of impartiality with which it depicts the story. The French are still licking their wounds after leaving their Indo-Chinese empire and are desperate to avoid another defeat here. The local population are poorly educated and hopelessly outgunned but have the advantage of mobility and surprise as they seek to emulate their Oriental contemporaries. Neither side shies away from acts of brutality and that's depicted poignantly here with anyone in uniform a target for the rebels and any one at all a target by way of response. It has the feel of a docu-drama to it, with the characterisations of "La Ponte" (Brahim Hadjadj) and "Col. Mathieu" (Jean Martin) acting well as a conduit for both sides of a story that saw losers on every side and tested the humanity of each as any semblance of decency or a code of war went swiftly by the board. It's not just both sides here that are exposed to judgment, but the pretty hapless UN doesn't really come off any better (perhaps restricted by a potential French veto?). The photography and visual effects are very effective at presenting us with a largely urban war zone in which collateral damage was inevitable, and seemingly a price both parties were prepared to pay. The history of the scenario and it's results are fact, but Gillo Pontecorvo uses quite a considerable degree of creativity and sensitivity in demonstrating just how desperate times can result in desperate measures - and maybe even a little grudging respect. At times, the violence is claustrophobically presented and it's never an easy watch.
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★ 8 / 10
Powerful , award-winning flick depicting the uprising against French Colonial rule
ma-cortes
An impressive and historical film in semi-documentary style . Set when the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) is leading the resistance in Algeria against…
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.
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