La battaglia di Algeri (1966)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Gillo Pontecorvo

Writers:

Gillo Pontecorvo (writer)
Franco Solinas (writer)

Release Date:

20 September 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

The French Colonel...who was forced even to torture! One of the many women...who stopped at nothing to win! The Algerian Street Boy...who became a rebel hero!

Plot:

An account of the bloodiest revolution in modern history.

Plot Keywords:

Bomb | Independence | Government | Torture | Revolution

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 7 wins

Cast

Brahim Hadjadj	...	Ali La Pointe (as Brahim Haggiag)
Jean Martin	...	Col. Mathieu
Yacef Saadi	...	Djafar (as Saadi Yacef)
Samia Kerbash	...	One of the girls
Ugo Paletti	...	Captain
Fusia El Kader	...	Halima
Omar
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mohamed Ben Kassen	...	Petit Omar

Also Known As:

The Battle of Algiers (UK) (USA)
Maarakat madinat al Jazaer (Algeria: Arabic title)

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Italy | Algeria

Language:

Italian | French | English | Arabic

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Norway:16 | USA:Not Rated | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 | France:(Banned) (1965-1971) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1993) | UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:16 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Algeria

Company:

Igor Film

Trivia:

This film was shot like a documentary. It was very rarely shown in France until recently, and the torture scenes were cut in the US and UK.

Goofs:

Continuity: Ali's first assignment is to assault a police officer. During this, the cop's hat falls to the ground, and the position of the hat changes between cuts.

Quotes:

Col. Mathieu: The word "torture" doesn't appear in our orders. We've always spoken of interrogation as the only valid method in a police operation directed against unknown enemies. As for the NLF, they request that their members, in the event of capture, should maintain silence for twenty-four hours...

Movie Connections:

Featured in Remembering History (2005) (V)

A Brilliant War Film...

Just when I thought I was starting to hate every movie in sight, I had the amazing priveledge to watch "the Battle Of Algiers" which is this amazing account of the oppression of the Algierian people by the French in the 1950's.

When the movie starts, we see 4 people hiding from the French Army. Then all of a sudden, this amazingly haunting music starts, and we're told the story in flashback of how the Algierian people tried to revolt against the French Soldiers.

From what I understand, the movie uses no documentary footage, which is amazing as some of the scenes in the movie must have taken a great deal of effort to produce., There are some pretty amazing crowd scenes and the explosion scenes are just breathtaking.

Also, I guess some of the actual revolutionaries are in the film as well. They are pretty hard to point out as all of the acting here is amazing, very realistic.

So, looking for a war movie? Dammit, don't go for Private Ryan, go to Algiers.