My first viewing of ?The Battle of Algiers? (1966) was at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles about nine months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the film?s continuing relevance in the early 21st century became immediately evident to me. Thus, I wasn?t too surprised when the movie was screened in 2003 at the Pentagon, and it?s been widely reported that an email flier for the film was headed: ?How to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas.? Now Criterion Collection has released a three-disc DVD set of ?The Battle of Algiers,? and you can watch this powerful movie, along with a thought-provoking collection of bonus materials, at home.
Here?s a little historical background to the film: Algeria had had a predominantly Arab population for centuries when it was invaded in 1830 by the French, who soon made it into a colony. Substantial numbers of Europeans settled in Algeria, dominating the government and the economy, and leaving the native Muslim population with very little political or economic power. The movie takes its title from the pivotal battle in the 1954-62 struggle of the Algerians to gain their independence from France.
I would say that the style of ?The Battle of Algiers? perfectly matches its content. The movie was shot on location in the capital city only three years after independence was achieved, and the dialogue is in French and Arabic. Hardly any of the people appearing on camera are professional actors, and the quasi-documentary look and feel of the film is very realistic. The crowd scenes are impressive, and the explosions are nerve-wrackingly convincing. I find the sequences horrifying where, before they plant bombs in cafés, women look around at the faces of innocent civilians who will be killed and maimed.
While concepts like nationalism and anti-colonialism help us understand ?The Battle of Algiers,? it seems to me there?s considerable value in considering the film from the perspective of Marxism. The creative force behind the movie was Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo, who describes himself as ?a man of the left? in the documentary ?The Dictatorship of Truth? on Disc Two. In her 1973 positive review of the film, Pauline Kael wrote, ?Pontecorvo?the most dangerous kind of Marxist, a Marxist poet?shows us the raw strength of the oppressed.?
I think the bonus materials in ?The Battle of Algiers? DVD set are outstanding. Disc Two is devoted to the topic ?Pontecorvo and the Film? and contains three items. There?s a 51-minute 2004 making-of documentary titled ?Marxist Poetry,? where we hear from a Pontecorvo biographer, a film critic, two actors appearing in the movie, and the film?s director, cinematographer, composer, and editor about the development and production of the movie. Also, literary critic Edward Said hosts a 37-minute 1992 documentary on the life and work of Pontecorvo titled ?The Dictatorship of Truth.? Finally, there?s a 17-minute 2004 featurette where filmmakers Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Julian Shnabel, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone tell what ?The Battle of Algiers? has meant to them.
Continued on the Next Page: More About the Bonus Materials
Here?s a little historical background to the film: Algeria had had a predominantly Arab population for centuries when it was invaded in 1830 by the French, who soon made it into a colony. Substantial numbers of Europeans settled in Algeria, dominating the government and the economy, and leaving the native Muslim population with very little political or economic power. The movie takes its title from the pivotal battle in the 1954-62 struggle of the Algerians to gain their independence from France.
I would say that the style of ?The Battle of Algiers? perfectly matches its content. The movie was shot on location in the capital city only three years after independence was achieved, and the dialogue is in French and Arabic. Hardly any of the people appearing on camera are professional actors, and the quasi-documentary look and feel of the film is very realistic. The crowd scenes are impressive, and the explosions are nerve-wrackingly convincing. I find the sequences horrifying where, before they plant bombs in cafés, women look around at the faces of innocent civilians who will be killed and maimed.
While concepts like nationalism and anti-colonialism help us understand ?The Battle of Algiers,? it seems to me there?s considerable value in considering the film from the perspective of Marxism. The creative force behind the movie was Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo, who describes himself as ?a man of the left? in the documentary ?The Dictatorship of Truth? on Disc Two. In her 1973 positive review of the film, Pauline Kael wrote, ?Pontecorvo?the most dangerous kind of Marxist, a Marxist poet?shows us the raw strength of the oppressed.?
I think the bonus materials in ?The Battle of Algiers? DVD set are outstanding. Disc Two is devoted to the topic ?Pontecorvo and the Film? and contains three items. There?s a 51-minute 2004 making-of documentary titled ?Marxist Poetry,? where we hear from a Pontecorvo biographer, a film critic, two actors appearing in the movie, and the film?s director, cinematographer, composer, and editor about the development and production of the movie. Also, literary critic Edward Said hosts a 37-minute 1992 documentary on the life and work of Pontecorvo titled ?The Dictatorship of Truth.? Finally, there?s a 17-minute 2004 featurette where filmmakers Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Julian Shnabel, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone tell what ?The Battle of Algiers? has meant to them.
Continued on the Next Page: More About the Bonus Materials
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