Educational and Entertaining without Bias

Rating: 9/10 (8 June 2010)

This film is remarkable for it's ability not to over-identify with one group or cause, it allows us to see from a very objective place, the perspectives of both the militants of Algeria and the French Colonists and Military, without bias. Both are portrayed with equal objectivity very successfully.
A film in the style of realism, it looks much like a documentary, but actually uses NO "News Footage," at all and is completely staged. This is quite remarkable and quite an accomplishment. The movie utilizes all non-actors (except one), even more amazing, and uses real locations, and people as the characters. All of this adding to a sense of a documentary, which it is not. Even one of the main characters is played by himself (the Producer of the movie (Saadi Yacef, playing a character based on himself - - El-hadi Jafar. The scenes are all shot on location with a hand held camera, utilizing natural light, locations, and real people. This film is "Realism" with a documentary feel. Music is very important in this film and was scored by Maricone, who has done hundreds of films and did a wonderful and often hauntingly beautiful job on this film. The premise of the film is that there is a loss of cultural identity when a country is colonized, which has certain costs and ramifications, and that, no country can ever, in the end, be run by or ruled by others. It has never lasted, and is always temporary. Racism is a main subject of this movie as one group (the French colonists) try to impose their value systems on the Algerian people, and the resistance that takes place. The film also depicts, especially through the "raw," uneducated Protagonist "Ali," the use of illiteracy, which is a weapon in colonization, and how lack of education is a problem here. Ali is also one of the most complex characters in the movie, as well as Omar, the little boy. This movie makes an effort to show both sides of the story, the rationale of each side. The movie also served as a sort of "cautionary tale," of what could happen in Vietnam, and for this reason, the film was banned in the U.S. The film did actually turn out to be prophetic in this instance, and when it was released caused quite a stir. It also fueled the fire surrounding the plight of the African American in American ghettos, as equated with the Algerian Casbah, and the socio-economic implications. The movie also serves to humanize the "Terrorist," giving them a face and cause and showing their motivations. "Why does a terrorist become a terrorist." Since its initial release, this film has had a resurgence and has been used by groups as diverse as the "black panthers," to the U.S. government in briefings and instruction on urban guerrilla warfare. So in many ways, it is a very contemporary subject matter, even though it was made over 40 years ago. In addition, one of the scariest scenes of the movie is when the children beat up an old drunk man for no reason. This is a foreshadowing of the new generation of extremist terrorist that we see today. This is a movie of yesterday, and also a movie of our times.