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CLZ Books CloudThe Battle Of Algiers (Criterion Collection)
The Battle of Algiers
This highly political film about the Algerian struggle for independence from France took ‘Best Film’ honors at the 1966 Venice Film Festival. The bulk of the film is shot in flashback, presented as the memories of Ali (Brahim Haggiag), a leading member of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN), when finally captured by the French in 1957. Three years earlier, Ali was a petty thief who joined the secretive organization in order to help rid the Casbah of vice associated with the colonial government. The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French government to quell what soon becomes a nationwide revolt. After the flashback, Ali and the last of the FLN leaders are killed, and the film takes on a more general focus, leading to the declaration of Algerian independence in 1962. Director Gillo Pontecorvo's careful re-creation of a complicated guerrilla struggle presents a rather partisan view of some complex social and political issues, which got the film banned in France for many years. That should not come as a surprise, for La Battaglia di Algeri was subsidized by the Algerian government and -- with the exception of Jean Martin and Tommaso Neri as French officers -- the cast was entirely Algerian as well
Cast View all
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Brahim Hadjadj | Ali La Pointe |
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Jean Martin | Col. Mathieu |
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Yacef Saadi | Djafar |
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Samia Kerbash | Fathia |
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Ugo Paletti | Captain |
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Fusia El Kader | Halima |
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Mohamed Ben Kassen | Petit Omar |
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Franco Moruzzi | Mahmoud |
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Tommaso Neri | Captain |
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Rouïched | The Drunk Man |
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Gene Wesson |
Crew
| Director | Gillo Pontecorvo |
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| Writer | Franco Solinas, Gillo Pontecorvo | |
| Producer | Fred Baker, Antonio Musu, Yacef Saadi | |
| Musician | Ennio Morricone, Gillo Pontecorvo | |
| Photography | Marcello Gatti | |
Personal
| Quantity | 1 |
|---|---|
| Seen | |
| Added Date | Jul 02, 2022 20:36:20 |
| Modified Date | Jul 02, 2022 20:39:01 |
Edition details
| Screen Ratios | Widescreen (1.85:1) |
|---|---|
| Audio Tracks | Dolby Digital Mono [French] Mono [Arabic] SUB [English] |
| Subtitles | English |
| Distributor | Criterion |
| Layers | Single side, Dual layer |
| Edition Release Date | Aug 09, 2011 |
Notes
Bought at B&N July 2022 sale
One of the most influential political films in history, The Battle of Algiers, by Gillo Pontecorvo, vividly re-creates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés, and French soldiers resort to torture to break the will of the insurgents. Shot on the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film is a case study in modern warfare, with its terrorist attacks and the brutal techniques used to combat them. Pontecorvo’s tour de force has astonishing relevance today.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Marcello Gatti, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Gillo Pontecorvo: The Dictatorship of Truth, a documentary narrated by literary critic Edward Said
Marxist Poetry: The Making of “The Battle of Algiers,” a documentary featuring interviews with Pontecorvo, Gatti, composer Ennio Morricone, and others
Interviews with Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Julian Schnabel, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone on the film’s influence, style, and importance
Remembering History, a documentary reconstructing the Algerian experience of the battle for independence
“États d’armes,” a documentary excerpt featuring senior French military officers recalling the use of torture and execution to combat the Algerian rebellion
“The Battle of Algiers”: A Case Study, a video piece featuring U.S. counterterrorism experts
Gillo Pontecorvo’s Return to Algiers, a documentary in which the filmmaker revisits the country after three decades of independence
Production gallery
Theatrical and rerelease trailers
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by film scholar Peter Matthews, a reprinted interview with cowriter Franco Solinas, biographical sketches of key figures in the French-Algerian War, and, for the Blu-ray edition, excerpts from Algeria’s National Liberation Front leader Saadi Yacef’s original account of his arrest and excerpts from the film’s screenplay
New cover by Neil Kellerhouse
Links
| IMDB |
| TheMovieDb.org |