The Movie Book

184 THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS

T

here are

many ways

to tackle war

and political strife in

fiction. Filmmakers

can approach it from a

humanist perspective,

following civilians as

the external conflict

escalates around them,

or follow rank-and-file

soldiers as they carry out

their duties, and examine

the moral crises they face

in doing so.

The majority of movies

about conflict tend to

take one of these two

perspectives. The Battle

of Algiers, however,

adopts a journalistic

perspective instead to

follow Algeria’s attempts

to gain independence from

the French. That is to say,

it approaches the conflict

forensically, its narrative

following the progression of

significant events. While it does

have prominent figures in its

narrative, particularly Ali La Pointe,

one of the leaders of the Algerian

resistance, it is not the story of

any one individual. The movie is,

as the title suggests, the story

of the Battle of Algiers. Director

Gillo Pontecorvo’s camera mimics

that of a photojournalist on the

streets, capturing events from

an objective remove.

IN CONTEXT

GENRE

War, political

DIRECTOR

Gillo Pontecorvo

WRITERS

Gillo Pontecorvo,

Franco Solinas

STARS

Jean Martin, Brahim

Hadjadj, Yacef Saadi

BEFORE

1960 Pontecorvo’s movie Kapò

is one of the first attempts

to depict the horrors of the

Holocaust on screen.

AFTER

1969 Pontecorvo’s Burn! stars

Marlon Brando as a British

agent who manipulates a

slave revolt on a Caribbean

island to pervert it in the

interests of big business.

2006 Ken Loach’s The Wind

that Shakes the Barley tells the

story of Republican fighters in

the Irish War of Independence.

With its use of documentary-style

filming techniques, the movie’s

large crowd scenes resemble

real newsreel footage.

00:10

While in prison in 1954,

Ali La Pointe witnesses the

execution of a man who

shouts out independence

slogans. Five months later,

he joins the FLN.

00:36

In response to

the killing of police

by the FLN, the

police chief plants

a bomb in the

casbah, which kills

a number of children.

00:55

Colonel Mathieu arrives

in Algiers to take charge

of the operation against the

FLN. He plans Operation

Champagne to take place

during a strike called by

the FLN.

01:44

The FLN leader

Djafar surrenders.

However, Ali La

Pointe is still free.

00:18

It is 1956 and the FLN

announces bans on alcohol,

drugs, and prostitution. It

enforces the new rules

within the casbah.

00:41

Following the bombing of the

casbah, three FLN women in Western

clothing plant bombs. One is in a bar,

another at a disco, and a third at the

airport. They kill scores of people.

00:00 00:20 00:40 01:00 01:20 01:40 02:02

01:32

At a press conference,

Mathieu praises FLN

fighters, including arrested

leader Ben M’Hidi, for

their commitment

to their cause.

01:52

After Ali La Pointe refuses to

surrender, the Colonel blows up

the house he is hiding in. He

declares that “the head of the

tapeworm has been destroyed.”

Minute by minute