Powerful movie!!!

Rating: 9/10 (10 December 2007)

The battle of Algeria is very powerful movie and it is still relevant today. This movie shows directly how it affected the Algerian's in every day life. The director showed people's faces close up and usually showed random people's faces on the street. The shot of people's faces perfectly make this movie more powerful. Unlike some Hollywood movie, the terrorist is not faceless and a heartless creature from a different world.
Another trade mark is that an unknown narrator is explaining the story while the camera is shooting every thing that happens on the street. It has a documentary feel to it. Sometimes I feel like the camera man is right there when this entire event were happening on the street of Algeria. That makes this movie very real.
This chanting hollow music is coming every time something bad or important is about to happen. The movie started with the ending and Ali fleshed back to where it all started. My favorite scenes are when three women tried to bomb the public places. The trade mark of this movie is that showing people's faces at the bar and coffee shop innocent kid licking the ice-cream and some couples are having a good time. Conversely these Algerian women's faces have no emotion. As a viewer I can not tell what they are thinking before they tried to kill all these innocent people. In another scene, two Algerian boys are on a killing spree. They are going insane from being opposed for many years in their own land. After all you can't tell the differences between the authority figures and people's on the street because they do have the same skin color. It makes your heart winched as you watch this movie. I have mixed feeling towards Algerians and French.
This movie is obviously more sympathized on the Algerian point of view yet the movie doesn't really take any side of bias. It is not really anti-French movie at all.