This highly political film about the Algerian
struggle for independence from France took Best Film honors
at the 1966 Venice Film Festival.
The bulk of the film is shot in flashback, presented as the
memories of Ali (Brahim Haggiag), a leading member of the
Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN), when finally
captured by the French in 1957.
Three years earlier, Ali was a petty thief who joined the
secretive organization in order to help rid the Casbah of
vice associated with the colonial government.
The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly
extreme measures taken by the French government to quell what
soon becomes a nationwide revolt.
After the flashback, Ali and the last of the FLN leaders are
killed, and the film takes on a more general focus, leading
to the declaration of Algerian independence in 1962.
Director Gillo Pontecorvo's careful re-creation of a complicated
guerrilla struggle presents a rather partisan view of some
complex social and political issues, which got the film banned
in France for many years.
That should not come as a surprise, for La Battaglia di Algeri
was subsidized by the Algerian government and, with the exception
of Jean Martin and Tommaso Neri as French officers, the cast
was entirely Algerian as well.
At least three versions exist, running 135, 125, and 120 minutes.
Cast:
Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Brahim Haggiag, Tommaso Neri
Director:
Gillo Pontecorvo |
