Poster: Wikipedia
The Battle of Algiers
معركة الجزائر
1966 · Gillo Pontecorvo
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Between 1954 and 1957, FLN guerrilla fighter Ali La Pointe rises through the Algerian resistance in Algiers, organizing a campaign of bombings and assassinations against French colonial rule that draws a brutal crackdown from French paratroopers. Shot in stark documentary-style black and white with mostly non-professional actors who lived through the real events, the film traces the escalating cycle of violence and torture from both the FLN and French forces without flinching from either side. Gillo Pontecorvo's film ends with Algeria's eventual independence, framing the brutal battle as a costly, necessary chapter in a longer war the French ultimately lost.
- Director
- Gillo Pontecorvo
- Studio
- Igor Film, Casbah Films
- Starring
- Jean Martin, Saadi Yacef, Brahim Hadjadj