One of the most influential political films in history, The Battle of Algiers, by Gillo Pontecorvo, vividly re-creates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. Tap to unmute. Freund (2) argues that although the French were tactful, they failed to quell the insurgency by the National Liberation Front and the Algiers as a whole. Gillo Pontecorvo (Italian: [ˈdʒillo ponteˈkɔrvo]; 19 November 1919 – 12 October 2006) was an Italian filmmaker. Biography, Certificate: Passed The Battle of Algiers ... like you are watching a news documentary of the Algerians fight for independence with footage filmed on the streets of Algiers as the violence of armed revolt took place. T he rerelease of Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 black-and-white film The Battle of Algiers, recreating France's suppression of the 1950s Algerian uprising, is an extraordinary experience. [36], On 3 June Yacef's forces planted bombs in street lamps at bus stops in the centre of Algiers, the explosions killed eight and wounded 90, a mix of French and Algerians. 2 VIDEOS | 381 IMAGES. In a bloody conflict at his door, a wounded man is left behind, and Ivo takes him in. [15], While females had not previously been searched in Algiers; following the Coq Hardi explosion one of the waiters identified the bomber as a woman. The Battle of Algiers provides a useful vehicle for the discussion of colonialism, wars of national liberation, and leftist politics, as well as contemporary issues regarding terrorism, torture, and the American military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. [16] After visiting Algiers, a clearly shocked defense minister Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury told General Massu after the bombings: "We must finish these people off!". The life, times and afflictions of the fifteenth-century Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev. You will struggle to find a better argument to dissuade budding and existing occupiers of territory they have no legitimate claim to embarking on, or continuing with their despotic occupations of populations and their lands. Any recommendations for other movies about colonial Africa. 3. The conflict began as a series of attacks by the FLN against the French forces followed by a terrorist attack on Algerian civilians in Algiers by a group of Pieds-Noirs (European settlers), aided by the police. The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 award-winning movie that brightly depicts the harassment experienced by innocent people at that time. [28] Following interrogation the vast majority of suspects were sent to camps, while those deemed too dangerous were driven to a remote location outside of Algiers where they were machine-gunned and buried. Salan was adept in the theory of counter-insurgency; he chose veterans of the First Indochina War as his lieutenants, most notably General André Dulac, Colonel Goussault (psychological operations), General Robert Allard, and Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Trinquier. [27] High-value suspects and suspects with information relating to matters outside a para regiment's territorial sector would be passed over to Colonel Aussaresses' unit, where "torture was used as a matter of course". It involves the proving-ground of the emerging tactics in Algeria from 1954 to 1962, as France tried and failed to contain a nationalist uprising. A film commissioned by the Algerian government that shows the Algerian revolution from both sides. The Algerians are seeking independence. The Battle of Algiers was a campaign of urban guerrilla warfare carried out by the National Liberation Front (FLN) against the French Algerian authorities from late 1956 to late 1957. For those that choose the Youtube option, embedded below, a brief warning: the subtitles in the beginning are delayed but eventually line up with the action of the movie. The city had been divided into squares under a system known as quadrillage with each allotted to a Regimental command. The visually striking film documents the Algerian revolt against the French in 1954–62, with a focus on the events of 1956–57. [14], The 10e DP deployed into Algiers the following week. A series of random attacks in the city followed with 49 civilians shot by the FLN between 21 and 24 June. An elite unit, it was officered by many veterans of the Indochina War, including Colonels Marcel Bigeard, Roger Trinquier, Fossey-François and Yves Godard (chief of staff), all of whom were experienced in counter-insurgency and revolutionary warfare and determined to avoid another defeat. New to Streaming: Shiva Baby, maɬni, Ennio Morricone, A Tale of Winter, Oscar Shorts, and More, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’: How Shaka King Zeroed in on Black Panther Fred Hampton, If One Movie Could Introduce Your Country. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions. Across the street at No 4, Ali La Pointe escaped the French cordon and went to another safe-house in the Casbah. In a short time, Ramdane managed to revive the FLN in Algiers. The torture used by the French is contrasted with the Algerian's use of bombs in soda shops. [32], On 23 March following a meeting between Massu, Trinquier, Fossy-Francois and Aussaresses to discuss what was to be done with Ali Boumendjel, Aussaresses went to the prison where Boumendjel was being held and ordered that he be transferred to another building, in the process he was thrown from a 6th floor skybridge to his death. On 9 June a bomb exploded at the Casino on the outskirts of Algiers killing nine and injuring 85. Gradually, the offences and retaliations build towards full-scale war. An Estonian man Ivo has decided to stay behind and harvest his crops of tangerines. Filmed in a semi-documentary format, this film deals with the battle of Algiers (1956-57) part of the broader fight for Algerian independence (1954-62) from French colonial rule. [22], During the battle the use of torture by the French security forces became institutionalised, the techniques ranging from beatings, electroshock (the gegenecode: fra promoted to code: fr ), waterboarding, sexual assault and rape. The battle of Algiers was produced in 1966 directed by Italian Filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo and written by Franco Solinas as well as Gillo Pontecorvo. Judge Bérard had suggested to Major Aussaresses that Ben M'hidi should be poisoned with cyanide in an apparent suicide and later in a meeting of General Massu, Colonel Trinquier and Aussaresses it was decided that Ben M'hidi should not stand trial due to the reprisals that would follow his execution and so Major Aussaresses and men of the 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment (1e RCP) removed him from Bigeard's custody and drove him to a farm outside Algiers where they faked his suicide by hanging. Radicalised in jail Jotted Lines [37], In July informal negotiations took place between Yacef and Germaine Tillion to try to agree a deal whereby attacks on civilians would stop in return for the French ceasing to guillotine members of the FLN. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. The Algerians are seeking independence. The Battle of Algiers is a historical war film by filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo. Copy link. [38], On 26 August following intelligence gained by Colonel Godard's operatives, the 3e RPC raided a house in the Impasse Saint-Vincent where Yacef's new bomb-maker and deputy were believed to be hiding. [20], Colonel Trinquier operated an intelligence gathering network throughout the city called the Dispositif de Protection Urbaine (DPU) which divided Algiers into sectors, sub-sectors, blocks and buildings each individually numbered. In March 1955, Rabah Bitat, head of the FLN in Algiers, was arrested by the French. The Battle of Algiers also shows that an insurgency is no place for sexism. Synopsis. Battle of Algiers was released in 1966, 4 years after the end of the Algerian war. Search for "The Battle of Algiers" on Amazon.com, Title: Shopping. Italy, Algeria, 1966. An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention. John Vogel . "[12], On 28 December 1956, an FLN activist Ali la Pointe assassinated Amédé Froger: the Mayor of Boufarik and President of the Federation of Mayors of Algeria, outside his home. Reprisals followed and the violence escalated leading the French Governor-General to deploy the French Armyin Algiers to suppress the FLN… During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy. Yacef Saâdi proceeded to establish an organisation based within the Casbah. The torture used by the French is contrasted with the Algerian's use of bombs in soda shops. [30], On 25 February Colonel Trinqier's intelligence sources located Ben M'hidi who was captured in his pyjamas by Paras at Rue Claude-Debussy. [7], institute zones where stay is regulated or forbidden; to place any person whose activity would prove dangerous to public security and order under house arrest, under surveillance or not; to regulate public meetings, shows, bars; to order declaration of weapons, ammunition and explosives, and order their surrendering or seek and confiscate them; the order and authorise perquisitions of homes by day or night; to decide on penalties imposed as reparations of damage to public and private property to anyone found to have helped the rebellion in any way. Following the burial of the dead from the casino, the Pied-Noirs started a ratonnade that resulted in five Algerians dead and more than 50 injured. The Pied-noirs began to organise themselves into a paramilitary group under André Achiary, a former officer of the SDECE and under-prefect of Constantinois at the time of Sétif massacre. The Battle of Algiers. (Like all the crowd scenes in the film, this one has an electrifying shiver that feels both exciting and dangerous.) The Battle of Algiers opens in 1957 with a distressed and disheveled FLN member giving into the French paratroopers' torture and disclosing the identity and whereabouts of La Pointe. The French foreign legion has left Vietnam in defeat and has something to prove. 5 After rejecting their first treatment – a Eurocentric vehicle for Paul Newman – Yacef worked on the script throughout the shooting, later claiming that he took an acting … The war happened in the alleys and backstreets of Algeria between the summer 1956 and 1957 (Riegler, 2008). The French foreign legion has left Vietnam in defeat and has something to prove. Directed by. The rebels began their attacks by shooting policeman and other government officials. It is however, the gripping presentation of a reality into a thoroughly convincing and believable portrayal of that reality that grabs the audiences attention, giving it longevity, linking it to future conflicts, keeping it relevant. The strike appeared to be a success with most native Algerian shops remaining shuttered, workers failed to turn up and children didn't attend school. It was a fight between the Front de Liberation Nationale, FLN, and French Army paratroopers. Every couple of decades or so, The Battle of Algiers becomes particularly relevant all over again. In this luminous tale set in the area around Sarajevo and in Italy, Perhan, an engaging young Romany (gypsy) with telekinetic powers, is seduced by the quick-cash world of petty crime, which threatens to destroy him and those he loves. [35], In early May two paratroopers were shot in the street by the FLN, their comrades led by one of Trinquier's informers attacked a bath-house which was believed to be an FLN hideout, killing almost 80 Algerians. Gillo Pontecorvo's "The Battle of Algiers," filmed in 1965, released in late 1967, is the crucial film about this new kind of warfare. Starring: Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Samia Kerbash & Fusia El Kader. Use the HTML below. Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo • 1966 • Algeria, Italy Starring Brahim Haggiag, Jean Martin, Saadi Yacef One of the most influential political films in history, THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, by Gillo Pontecorvo, vividly re-creates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. Larbi Ben M'Hidi and Yacef Saâdi were ordered to prepare for an offensive.[9]. View production, box office, & company info. [16], In late January the FLN called an 8-day general strike across Algeria commencing on Monday 28 January. The people of Algiers demonstrate as determined a will to overthrow their oppressors as their oppressors had demonstrated just over a decade previously in their fight to regain their freedom from tyranny. Accordingly, female suspects were subsequently searched by metal detectors or physically, limiting the ability of the FLN to continue the bombing campaign from the Casbah. Among the major arguments brought forward by the film, “The Battle of Algiers” of 1966 by Gillo Pontecorvo is that winning a war depends on strategies and tactics as well as. Civilian authorities left all prerogatives to General Jacques Massu who, operating outside legal frameworks between January and September 1957, successfully eliminated the FLN from Algiers. A film commissioned by the Algerian government that shows the Algerian revolution from both sides. 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