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The Battle of Algiers - Criterion Collection

starring: Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Samia Kerbash, Ugo Paletti
directed by: Gillo Pontecorvo

: The Battle of Algiers - Criterion Collection
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 9780780028876
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0780028872
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 12, 2004
Running Time: 125 minutes
Sales Rank: 12014
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: September 20, 1967



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Editorial Review:

Description:
One of the most influential films in the history of political cinema, Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers focuses on the harrowing events of 1957, a key year in Algeria’s struggle for independence from France. Shot in the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film vividly recreates the tumultuous Algerian uprising against the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, the French torture prisoners for information and the Algerians resort to terrorism in their quest for independence. Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés. The French win the battle, but ultimately lose the war as the Algerian people demonstrate that they will no longer be suppressed. The Criterion Collection is proud present Gillo Pontecorvo’s tour de force—a film with astonishing relevance today.

Amazon.com:
Director Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 movie The Battle of Algiers concerns the violent struggle in the late 1950s for Algerian independence from France, where the film was banned on its release for fear of creating civil disturbances. Certainly, the heady, insurrectionary mood of the film, enhanced by a relentlessly pulsating Ennio Morricone soundtrack, makes for an emotionally high temperature throughout. Decades later, the advent of the 'war against terror' has only intensified the film's relevance.

Shot in a gripping, quasi-documentary style, The Battle of Algiers uses a cast of untrained actors coupled with a stern voiceover. Initially, the film focuses on the conversion of young hoodlum Ali La Pointe (Brahim Haggiag) to F.L.N. (the Algerian Liberation Front). However, as a sequence of outrages and violent counter-terrorist measures ensue, it becomes clear that, as in Eisenstein's October, it is the Revolution itself that is the true star of the film.

Pontecorvo balances cinematic tension with grimly acute political insight. He also manages an evenhandedness in depicting the adversaries. He doesn't flinch from demonstrating the civilian consequences of the F.L.N.'s bombings, while Colonel Mathieu, the French office brought in to quell the nationalists, is played by Jean Martin as a determined, shrewd, and, in his own way, honorable man. However, the closing scenes of the movie--a welter of smoke, teeming street demonstrations, and the pealing white noise of ululations--leaves the viewer both intellectually and emotionally convinced of the rightfulness of the liberation struggle. This is surely among a handful of the finest movies ever made. --David Stubbs



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - Dated Sensibilities
I recently saw this movie and for me it has some interesting features but is far from being the ultimate ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - An Uncommonly Powerful Film
There are few films with the power of The Battle Of Algiers. It is a film based on real events that gives ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - perhaps the most important film today
A great film 60 years ago, today this might be the most important film one can watch, especially given the ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Choke on truth, war on display
This is the harshest, most ultimately gripping political docudrama I've ever seen. It has grainy, high-contrast ... Read More


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - SO ..SO ..RELEVANT TODAY
Having read many Books on the Algerian war ,I was drawn to this Movie and must say it is a MUST SEE!for any movie ... Read More

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Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.