Battle of Algiers

[Alejandro C]

Who's seen this one? I just watched it again; I always have mixed feelings about it. One the one hand a nice film of guerrilla warfare, battle against colonialism, etc. But on the other hand: Muslim extremists, and everything that goes with that. Its hard to know what to think about these things. Admirable but grotesque and despicable, is that what the good movies are made of? Probably so... but who do you root for and why? It's a movie that challenges your ideas, at least for me, because you find yourself rooting for a cause that seems just, but then you know it's just going to lead to something bad... What do you people think?

[BobKKKindle$]

Muslim extremists, and everything that goes with that.

The FLN were not "Muslim Extremists" whatever that means...if they were do you think the producers of the film would have used the scene where the women militants dress up as if they were European women living in Algeria in order to get past the checkpoints and plant bombs?

[x359594]

...on the other hand: Muslim extremists, and everything that goes with that...but who do you root for and why? It's a movie that challenges your ideas, at least for me, because you find yourself rooting for a cause that seems just, but then you know it's just going to lead to something bad...

As has been noted, Muslim extremism is not depicted in the movie at all. The movie shows the struggle waged by the FLN against French colonialism. El-hadi Jaffar was played by Saadi Yacef the real life chief of the military wing of the FLN, and the movie accurately reflects the view of the FLN since it was made with the cooperation of many ex-combatants.

It seems to me that it's not a question of rooting for one side or another but rather seeing the way the anti-colonial struggle played out in that particular set of circumstances.

As to leading to something bad, I assume you're referring to the overthrow of Ben Bella and the termination of his socialist program of reconstruction. If that's the case, I don't see how the anti-colonial revolution necessarily led to the military coup; it's like saying that the coup against Allende in Chile was caused by his election in the first place.

[Random Precision]

To be fair to the OP, it does depict the FLN militants rounding up and/or kicking out and/or executing alcoholics, vagrants, prostitutes, pimps and so on. I would question however if this was entirely motivated by "Islamic extremism" given that it was precisely these groups that were most likely to sell out the plans of resistance and the FLN militants themselves to the French

The movie itself was great, incredibly nuanced and I have never seen the like from anything that is coming out today.

[bricolage]

I thought it was a very good film.

[RedScare]

I thought it was excellent. I saw it for a seminar on terrorism, and I thought it was a great depiction of modern terrorism and counter-terrorism in an urban context.

[brigadista]

it is one of my favorite films - political and at the same time beautiful to look at

[ellipsis]

great movie, currently being watched by both social science students and the US military. One year of college i had to watch it for three different classes.

[Woyzeck]

Excellent film.

[cska]

It was a very good film, and there weren't any muslim extremists in it.

[Alejandro C]

Oh, I must have completely missed something in this. No Muslim extremists? I thought they were pretty explicitly portrayed as islamic crusaders. I'll go watch it again, but I remember scenes of koran readings leading to riots and shout of 'allah-u akbar' immediately preceding explosions. I'll take another look at it though.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I thought it was excellent. I saw it for a seminar on terrorism, and I thought it was a great depiction of modern terrorism and counter-terrorism in an urban context.So did the US military on the eve of the Iraq invasion. they screened it for their officers to give them an idea of what guerrilla warfare is like in more modern urban settings - as opposed to rural and jungle warfare.

Anyway it is one of my favorite political films and an excellent example of Italian neo-realism and perfect cinema verite style.

I think one of the brilliant things about the movie is that is the moralism that most movies use is completely striped away. The movie presents the deaths of the french and the algerians in a similar way (thus this is probably the best war movie ever because all deaths are treated as tragedies - even when it is clear that they were necessary or thought to be necessary by the characters. The leaders of the resistance are completely unconcerned with morals as is the French General (who says something like: if we are here to occupy these people then we are the NAZIs and they are the resistance. So get over it, do you want us to win or not?). The lack of moral concerns means that the conflict is stripped down to the politics and realities of the situation and not clouded by "moral highground" or "who shot first" approaches that usually surround discussions or depictions of conflicts. It also has one of the best one liners in defense of guerrilla and underground tactics in warfare:

French Reporter: "How could you send people carrying bombs in baskets to attack the colonists!"
FLN: "You give us your warplanes and missiles and bombs, and you can have the ladies and their basket-bombs"

Anyway, I think the movie is unquestionably on the side of the liberation movement and the fact that the movement is not romanticized (as liberals do when they happen to create literature or films which are sympathetic to revolutionary subjects) really makes it even more powerful and forces the audience to really think about imperialism and colonial liberation.

[pierrotlefou]

Oh, I must have completely missed something in this. No Muslim extremists? I thought they were pretty explicitly portrayed as islamic crusaders. I'll go watch it again, but I remember scenes of koran readings leading to riots and shout of 'allah-u akbar' immediately preceding explosions. I'll take another look at it though.
maybe you watched the wrong movie...

[Across The Street]

I just happened to receive this film from netflix and its busted all the way through on one side. It sounds good though and I look forward to seeing it.

[Sprocket Hole]

This film was recommended to me a few days ago by a friend, and since then I've been hearing more and more about it. This post finally made me take the initiative to torrent it. :)