La Bataille d'Alger (1966)
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo

Film Review

Although this is not a French film it is often considered as such, partly because it was made in French, but mainly because it manages to make such a strong comment on the politics of France during an important part of recent history.  The film was commissioned by the Algerian government a short while after Algeria was granted its independence in 1962, and it was directed by a renowned Italian film director, Gillo Pontecorvo, with an Italian production company.  When the film was released in 1965 it was internationally acclaimed for its honesty and outspokenness, although it was clearly too much for the French authorities, who had the film banned from France for several years.

La Bataille d'Alger is probably one of the great films of the Twentieth Century, and certainly a must for devoted cinema-goers with more than a passing interest in history.  The film is two hours long, it only depicts real-life events, and the dialogue alternates wildly between French and Algerian.  It is, for all that, one of the most engrossing films ever made.  Although filmed in black and white, the photography is mesmerising, and there is a real sense that we are witnessing real events as they unfold.

One remarkable feature of the film is its non-partisan approach to the subject. The Arabs and the French are shown in the same colours.  The atrocities committed by one side are matched equally by those on the other.  The French soldiers are shown torturing prisoners in graphic detail, whilst later we see innocent French civilians being slaughtered by Arab bombs.  Whilst there is some pretty vivid demonstrations of violence and cruelty, this is probably less shocking than the attitudes of the French and FLN terrorists.

The Algerian war was a terrible period of history and this film relates just part of that conflict, centred on the town of Algiers, to coldly inform us, not to shock, not to entertain.  Few films which retell real historical events are this objective and this powerful.  It is a film which says so much, not just about the Algerian war, but also about human nature at its worst.

Film Synopsis

In 1957, Algeria is a divided country, with an ever-growing fraction of the population wanting to gain independence from France.  After the fiasco in Indochina, this not something that the French government is even prepared to consider, let alone countenance.  In response to a campaign of terror orchestrated by the FLN (the Algerian National Liberation Front), the French army in Algeria is given greater powers to crush opposition to French rule - and this includes the use of summary arrests and torture.  On the orders of the resident minister Robert Lacoste, General Massu leads a determined assault against the FLN and sets about rounding up the group's ringleaders.

Meanwhile, those sympathetic to the FLN, including hot-headed rebels like Ali la Pointe, take their bid for freedom out into the streets, shops and marketplaces of Algiers.  As the conflict escalates, a bombing campaign brings death and destruction to the city on an unprecedented scale, creating a climate of fear and intolerance that quickly spreads throughout the whole country.  Neither side is prepared to back down.  To safeguard what remains of its dwindling empire, France will stop at nothing to crush Algeria's aspirations of independence, but the FLN and its supporters are equally resolved to liberate their country.  All too soon a programme of pacification has turned into a full-scale war...