atrocities are nothing: everyone commits them

Rating: Null/10 (18 November 2011)

"The Battle of Algiers" is about Algeria's war for independence. The main strength of Gillo Pontecorvo's movie is that it doesn't simply adore its protagonists. It shows that both the French forces and the Algerian revolutionaries committed unseemly acts: the French tortured Algerians, while the Algerians killed French civilians.
Obviously, this should draw attention to colonialism in general. There can be no doubt that every colonial power has committed atrocities against the colonized peoples, right up to the present. Admittedly, the independence movements might see no option other than to use extreme methods in the hopes of getting the colonizers out of their countries. Whatever the case, the movie definitely makes you think about that. I highly recommend it.