The Battle of Algiers: No User Manual For The Pentagon Here!

Ben M'Hidi: Jaffar says you weren't in favor of the strike.
Ali La Pointe: No, I wasn't.
Ben M'Hidi: Why not?
Ali La Pointe: Because we were ordered not to use arms.
Ben M'Hidi: Acts of violence don't win wars. Neither wars nor revolutions. Terrorism is useful as a start. But then, the people themselves must act. That's the rationale behind this strike: to mobilize all Algerians, to assess our strength.

I’ve read that the Pentagon watched La Battaglia di Alger, or The Battle of Algiers, in 2003 in hopes of gaining some tips in catching what might be called terrorists or, instead, resisters fighting for freedom. If it’s true, they watched the 1966 black and white film, restored and reissued in 2004, for the wrong reason. Not only is the film not a user manual for either side, but it questions the very use of violence to respond to political differences, as the conversation above indicates. I don’t know how anybody could watch the 121 minute movie, based on true events from the 50s and early 60s that Saadi Yacef wrote about, and not understand its message. A thousand Algerians participated in it from within the Kasbah to dare us to not hear their cry for freedom from France.

But there are no heroes, no villains. Remarkably we are caught up in this horribly bloody battle without knowing who we should be rooting for. Weird, huh? Both the Algerians and the French authorities are shown in a sympathetic way all throughout just as often as their inhumanity was revealed. It had the feeling of a documentary come to life. This gave it a spooky quality and I’m not just referring to the heart-pounding score by Ennio Morricone and the director Gillo Pontecorvo.

I haven’t watched Fernando Meirelle’s City of God, but a similarity between the two movies has been noted by many others. While Meirelle was invited into the favelos of the Brazilians, Pontecorvo was welcomed into the Kasbah where Algerian Muslims lived. Author Saadi Yacef played one of the four rebel leaders and Brahim Hadjadj played another leader we come to know best and perhaps sympathize most with. The rebels also have a young boy for delivering messages and looking around, plus three attractive women in French dress for placing bombs where unsuspecting French have gathered. Now the Algerians have the full attention of the French and the military determine to hunt down the head of the “tapeworm” or the resistance so the Algerians can be under their control again.

Col. Mathieu: There are 80,000 Arabs in the Kasbah. Are they all against us? We know they're not. In reality, it's only a small minority that dominates with terror and violence. This minority is our adversary and we must isolate and destroy it.

Col. Mathieu: To know them means to eliminate them. Consequently, the military aspect is secondary to the police method.

Jean Martin plays the complicated Colonel Mathieu who can be explaining the need for torture to reporters and then admit his admiration for brave and eloquent Algerians. He doesn’t call the Muslims dirty Arabs, but asks the reporters to accept the consequences if they want France to be in Algiers. It’s his and his men’s duties as soldiers.

Yes, we do see some shocking scenes of torture. We see Algerian women and children blown up (though all have their limbs) and the devastated look on the faces of those who have been coerced into betraying friends. Quite a few French police are shot and civilians blown up while the military dropped napalm bombs on defenseless villages from what an Algerian says. I don’t know how many died, but I’m afraid it was a huge number. If this isn’t a Halloween movie, I don’t know what is.

The climactic ending is exquisite. The film should really be called The Battle For Algiers because it’s not simply a battle that took place in Algiers, but it’s a battle that continues underground for years until it erupts again with a force that would not be denied.

Portecorvo’s brilliant movie was banned in France until 1971. He courageously showed us a slice of history that should never be forgotten and especially not today as civil wars rage on with as much ugliness. The Battle of Algiers was a tough film to watch, but also a captivating, moving one that questions the need for violence. I highly recommend that you watch it.

Col. Mathieu: What were they saying in Paris yesterday?
Journalist: Nothing. Sartre's written another article.
Col. Mathieu: Will you kindly explain to me why the Sartres are always born on the other side?
Journalist: So you like Sartre, Colonel?
Col. Mathieu: Not really, but I like him even less as an adversary.

NOTE - There are two discs with such extraordinarily interesting bonus features that I will have to order them. I wonder if I could add them to the database to review them? :-) An interview with Richard Clarke who wrote Against All Enemies and led me to the film is one of many interviews included.