on Notes The Battle of Algiers (1966), Director Gillo Pontecorvo
French 169. Instructor: Professor Roger Celestin
Synopsis: 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.
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Performer: Brahim Hadjadj Yacef Saadi Jean Martin
Character: Ali la Pointe Djafar Colonel Mathieu
General Notions: 1. Time The film is set from 1952 untill 1962. The film starts in 1954, after which a flashback occurs to 1952.
2. The FLN The FLN, Front de Nationale Libration (National Liberation Front), is the Algerian organization that started the independence fight against France.
3. Algiers Algiers is the capital of the country Algeria and it is where the film is set. The city is divided in the European quarter and the Casbah, the quarter of the locals (Algerians).
4. Pieds noirs The pieds noirs (black feet) are the people of European extraction that lived in Algeria until the end of the Algerian war in 1962. There were about 1 million pieds noirs, as opposed to 9 million locals (Algerians).
5. Dien-Bien-Phu A reference is made to Dien-Bien-Phu, a major battle that the French lost in Indochina (Vietnam) in 1954 and which led to their leaving the colony. The reference is made because the French army does not want a replay of DienBien-Phu in Algeria.
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Characters:
Ali la Pointe: a recruit of the FLN Djafar: a highly-placed member of the FLN who has recruited Ali la Pointe Colonel Matthieu: the colonel called to Algiers to resolve the matters with the FLN Ben M'Hidi: the highest-placed member of the FLN
Guideline questions:
Is the film objective? Why? Why not? Give specific examples.
Yes. Shows violence starting from both sides. Colonel matthieu showed sympathy at the end when he wanted to save the little boys life.
The film begins with a scene of a torture session. Torture is a crucial issue in the film. How so?
Major method used to extract information, suicide, bombs. To find out about FLN structure How is the issue of "terrorism" dealt with in the film?
Suicide bombers, drivebys,
Credits:
http://www.imdb.com http://www.fandango.com/thebattleofalgiers_v4312/summary
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