Paix du Brave (Peace of the Brave)

Rating: 7/10 (26 August 2007)

Fredrich Engels the Communist theoretician once said that so many factors shape an event that what emerges is something no one might have expected. PBS replayed last night the Algerian made fast paced movie The Battle of Algers, a docudrama of the Algerian struggle for independence, released shortly after the event in 1965 when the right saw the Algerian war as a communist inspired take over and the left saw it as a struggle for national liberation.
True to Engle's axiom neither was correct. What emerged was the phenomena of Arab or Islamic nationalism, the most recent product of which left a big crater in NYC; former Russian communists also do battle with this phenomena. Hedonistic liberals enchanted with national liberation in 1962 need not sit back in self satisfaction; today the phenomena hates liberalism more than it ever did colonialism.
The tactics of the Algerians would be recognised instantaneously to the casual reader of war news from Irak. Indeed President Bush might have been well advised to have studied the movie carefully before embarking on his wars in Afghanistan and Irak.
The movie takes an Algerian perspective but is fair to French Colonel Mathieu whose tactics put down FLN's uprising. Torture scenes were cut from the film in US showings to preserve the sensibilities of the weaklings in the US audiences; a real American ought to be able to eat oily, buttered popcorn during such scenes.
The film skirts France's waffling on the commitment to continued war, the OAS (Organisation d'Armee Secret) coup in Algeria in conjunction with the pied noir (French residing in Algeria) and the plebiscite which led to the Peace of the Brave, a French withdrawal.
In many respects French President General de Gaulle accurately predicted the future Irak war when in another context, he said, "americans learn nothing from France's mistakes."
With the war going so badly in Irak, I'm surprised the Regime allowed this to be shown.
Comparable films include LOST BATTALION starring Anthony Quinn.