Riveting, passionate, a love letter to revolution!

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2006)

There will probably never be a more compelling film about revolution than Battle Of Algiers, and if you haven't seen this masterpiece then run out and get a copy of the Criterion DVD. Part of what makes it so incredible is that it was shot in Algeria soon after the revolution with members of the revolutionary party in the development team and in the cast, so it's a narrative film with a documentary's realness. What makes the film so powerful is the city and the people itself, you can sense the anger and the hope. And strangely the film can even make you empathize with the most diabolical acts of terrorism. Now, is it as unbiased as everyone makes it out to be? I don't think so. I think it is pretty favorable to the revolutionaries. Even though it shows sympathetic characters on the side of the French colonial forces, the presentation is still weighted heavily on the side of the revolutionaries. Regardless, it is a marvelous film.