The Battle of Algiers
Dir: Gillo PontecorvoCast: Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi
125mins 1966 Italy | Algeria 15 Arabic | French | English
Subtitled The Battle of Algiers
Part of Robert's Genre Club
Paratrooper commander Colonel Mathieu, a former French Resistance fighter during World War II, is sent to 1950s Algeria to reinforce efforts to quash the uprisings of the Algerian War.
There he faces Ali la Pointe, a former petty criminal who, as the leader of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale, directs terror strategies against the colonial French government occupation. As each side resorts to ever-increasing brutality, no violent act is too unthinkable.
'he most important piece of political filmmaking since Battleship Potemkin' - David Parkinson, Empire