A masterpiece of documentary style film making.

Rating: 9/10 (24 January 2005)

This film should be required viewing for anyone who wants to understand specifically what we're up against in our "war on terrorism." Even though Gillo Pontecorvo's film was made in 1966 and documents events that took place in Algiers four years earlier, little has changed in terms of the mindset, structure, strategy and implementation by terrorist organizations, almost as if they've been in a vacuum all these years; indeed, this is the major cause of the "Arab Predicament" today. Watching THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, it would seem this film is more documentary than cinematic fiction, and with Marcello Gatti's grainy B&W photography (many scenes filmed with a hand-held camera), this impression is not that far off the mark. Since the struggle for independence from France was so fresh in the minds of most Algerians, the participants in the actual events were used in the film, and once Pontecorvo and his team recreated the atmosphere and visuals, the emotions of the people were ignited again and suddenly they were no longer acting. While THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS does take a position on the conflict, Pontecorvo is remarkably even handed in his approach and does not shy away from difficult questions, but confronts them with brutal clarity and honesty. Watching THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS is an intense, powerful experience, and Ennio Morricone's subdued but emotive score gives the images a resonance that will haunt the viewer long after they've dissolved into closing credits.