I've recently watched the 1966 Italian war movie 'The Battle of Algiers', which recreated the events of Algerian War (1954-1962), which was the war between the occupying French forces and the Algerian FLN. It was directed by Gillo Pontecorvo and the cast was made up of mainly unknown actors and actresses, many of the extras were Algerians. The film starts in the Casbah during November 1954 with a great introduction to Ali la Pointe, a convicted criminal who would become a guerilla leader for the FLN. It would display the first signs of resistance as guerillas murdered French police officers in broad daylight and women hid bombs in their purses and left them in public places. I'll admit, for a 1966 movie, these acts shocked me, and I'm certain it shocked the audiences decades ago. After the chaotic scenes of terrorism, the French call in the Paratroopers, who are led by a man who had seen action during World War II, Indochina and the Suez Canal.
The Paratroopers dominate the Casbah, going door-to-door, hunting for guerillas, using methods of torture such as electrocution and burning, which again, I'm sure stunned the original audience. What was omitted (perhaps for production costs) were the so-called Death Flights, where paratroopers took the arrested out to sea by helicopter, weighted them down and threw them into the water. The main story would end when the Paratroopers were able to hunt the guerillas down to the last man. However, 2 years later, the new uprising began and this time, the French could not keep this resistance down. The film ended where the French asked over a loudspeaker, what is that the Algerians wanted. The answer...to paraphrase...'Independence...Pride...Freedom!'
It was a beautiful resistance film, even if the rebels were part of a group we do not idolize. Speaking of which, it became hard to identify who the heroes and who the villains were, but I think that's where Pontecorvo was taking us...to show that in these circumstances, there are clear cut definitions of heroes and villains.
Today, another North African nation is undergoing its own rebellion...Libya. And perhaps one day, we may get another critically acclaimed film about their uprising.
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