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Gillo Pontecorvo's masterpiece of neorealist cinema is one of my all time favourite films (possibly my favourite). The originality of its aesthetic and the poignancy of its content have allowed the film to remain ever powerful in its ability to conjure nationalist sentiment, anti-colonial fervor and an adoration for the righteous guerrilla warrior.
The story of the Algerian War of Independence unfolds as a carefully crafted commentary about the spaces that define exclusion, control, apartheid and violence and Pontecorvo's filmic dialectic provides a surprisingly even handed view of the violence perpetrated by both sides, bringing to light the contentious nature of the acts of terrorism committed on both sides, as well as the torture of Algerian rebels by French soldiers.
Undoubtedly, the genius of the film is its seemingly authentic portrayal of urban guerilla warefare, garnered largely in part because its screenplay was written by Saadi Yacef, the rebel leader of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), while in prison and because Pontecorvo himself was a leader of an anti-Fascist resistance movement in 1942 Milan. Talk about veteran credibility!
As an example par excellence of the film's continuing relevance, I found a free streaming of the film on a website for Jammu Kashmir television, a contested area between Pakistan and India in which the Muslim majority population is fighting to seperate from India. The introduction to the film reads "The Battle of Algiers part 1 (A lesson for Kashmiri youth for ongoing freedom struggle)".
So watch it here !
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| Battle of Algiers, Pontecorvo, 1965 |
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| Battle of Algiers, Pontecorvo, 1965 |
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| Battle of Algiers, Pontecorvo, 1965 |
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| Battle of Algiers, Pontecorvo, 1965 |
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| Battle of Algiers, Pontecorvo, 1965 |
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