As someone who studied in university in France, I am aware of the special status Algeria has to France and how traumatic its independence was to the French. As such when I followed up on a mention of this film on Broken Forum and learned that it was effectively commissioned by the newly independent Algerian government to tell their side of the story, I was instantly intrigued.

The Battle of Algiers tells the story of the Algerian struggle for independence, focusing on events in the capital of Algiers between 1954 and 1957. It was filmed by Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo based on a narrative largely provided by the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN). It is also worth noting almost all of the cast are non-professional actors with the sole exception being the French actor Jean Martin in the role of the French paratroop commander Col. Matthieu.

I have to admit that I found it initially difficult to get into this film. This is even though it doesn’t use any actual newsreel footage, it is filmed as if it were. This has the effect of creating distance between the audience and the people you see on the screen. But upon persevering, I grew to appreciate this approach. It successfully convinces us that what we are watching is the truth. At the same time, it captures a powerful sense of history in the making. We intuit that the import of the events we witness looms larger than the fate of any character.

By contrast,  there is no difficulty in appreciating the excellent mise en scène. The cinematography encompasses broad vistas of Algiers, anachronistically both a European city and an Arabic city at the same time, stark close-ups of the faces of people with a visual style highly reminiscent of the French New Wave, and startlingly realistic choreographies of hit-and-run gunfights and huge crowd demonstrations. Tension is ratcheted up inexorably over the course of the film as the level of violence increases. The bombing scenes in particular are amazingly intense, as we all wait for the inevitable explosions that we know are coming, and we feel that these are real explosions which kill real people, not Hollywood pyrotechnics.

But the film’s greatest achievement is that it actually manages to tell both sides of the story in a convincingly neutral manner. It doesn’t shy away from portraying how the FLN really are terrorists who stop at nothing to hit back at the French. But it also shows how the French readily uses torture to extract the information they need to tear down the FLN and how the French occupation casually discriminates against the local populace. It’s worth noting that the film’s most magnetic character is Col. Matthieu who frankly tells the French people that if they want to keep Algeria, the cost is to compromise on their own democratic principles.

It goes without saying that this film remains incredibly relevant today and is probably still the single best depiction of guerilla warfare on screen, so much so that is used as a reference by modern military academies around the world. It fully deserves its reputation as one of the best films ever made and watching it is a truly captivating cinematic experience. It’s also a great lesson to governments all around the world: if you allow your message to rise above mere propaganda, it will be so much more persuasive and memorable to the people whose minds you are trying to change.