One of the best political films ever

Rating: 10/10 (25 November 2007)

One of the best political films ever, about the 1954-1957 uprising of Algiers against French colonial rule. As the film shows, the uprising was brutally crushed, but the seeds of independence had already been sown, and in 1960 a new uprising, covering all Algeria, would rise up, and the country would become independent two years later. The French colonists, who numbered more than a million and who had lived in Algeria for more than a century, would be expelled after wards, marking a complete defeat for France. Made in 1965, with financing by the Algerian independent government, it is nevertheless surprisingly fair in some aspects. It shows the brutal terror tactics employed by the FLN (the main Algerian liberation group) like bombing bars and discos used by the Europeans. It also shows the French colonel in charge of suppressing the revolt (played by the only professional actor in the cast) in a quite positive light: in a film without true heroes, he is probably the most sympathetic character, competent and self-effacing, even if he doesn't flinch in using torture to crush the revolt (torture being in his mind the only method to destroy the FLN's cell structure). And, perhaps inadvertently, by showing the terror tactics used by the FLN, it suggests the oppressive, antidemocratic nature of the future independent government of Algeria. Overall, one of the must-see films in every cinephile list (and in any person interested in the politics of the region or in anti terror tactics).