BATTLE OF ALGIERS, THE [ItALIAn: LA BATTAGLIA DI ALGERI] 19
being unfaithful to her husband, and most egregiously, killed off its hero: narra-
tive sins that would have been met with opprobrium by Hollywood as well. Influ-
ential film director Sergei Gerasimov also panned the film in Pravda, though he
hadn’t seen it. Written off as a failed effort, Ballad of a Soldier was released, but not
in large cities; exhibition was confined to farmers’ collectives and workers’ clubs
in the countryside. Then something unexpected happened. Alexei Adzhubei, Prav-
da’s editor- in- chief (and Khrushchev’s son- in- law), administered a nationwide
questionnaire asking “Which recent film have you liked best?” From all over the
hinterlands the surprising answer was Ballad of a Soldier. The film’s popularity with
ordinary folk prompted an official reassessment. Gerasimov fi nally saw the film
and praised it extravagantly. Khrushchev was also shown the film, liked it, and
ordered that it be entered into competition at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, where
it won a special prize for its “high humanism and outstanding quality.” Released
in the West, Ballad of a Soldier went on to receive Oscar and BAFTA nominations
and the praise of New York film critics for its evocation of genuine emotion and its
gentle lyricism.
Reel History Versus Real History
Grigory Chukhray drew on his own extensive experiences in the war to make Bal-
lad of a Soldier an inarguably au then tic rendition of life at and behind the front-
lines. The film’s aura of authenticity is only marred by the obviously phony- looking
air attack on the train near the movie’s end that was the best Chukhray could do
on the paltry production bud get he was allotted. He requested supplementary funds
to reshoot the scene but was turned down on the grounds that the film would prob-
ably not be successful anyway.
BATTLE OF ALGIERS, THE [ITALIAN:
LA BATTAGLIA DI ALGERI] (1966)
Synopsis
The Battle of Algiers is an Italian- Algerian war film co- written and directed by Gillo
Pontecorvo and starring Jean Martin and Saadi Yacef. Shot in mock cinema vérité
style on location in Algiers and scored by Ennio Morricone, the film recounts the
so- called Battle of Algiers during the Algerian War (1954–1962) of in de pen dence
against the French colonialist government in North Africa.
Background
Though it ended in military stalemate, the Algerian War of In de pen dence (1954–
1962) resulted in po liti cal victory for Algeria’s nationalist movement, Front de
Libération Nationale (FLN); after 132 years of French colonial rule, Algeria became
a sovereign nation on 2 July 1962. Earlier that year Italian film director Gillo Pon-
tecorvo and screenwriter Franco Solinas, equipped with fake journalists’ creden-
tials, traveled to Algiers to meet with FLN leaders and do research for a film on
the war. Solinas subsequently wrote “Parà”: a script developed with Paul Newman