"A film that stood the test of time"

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2007)

This 1966 movie is timeless because the politics behind it is so strikingly relevant to today's issues, especially in our post-9/11 world. It is an unbiased film about a revolution that is started by the Algerians against the French who've occupied the country of Algeria and captures how quickly physical revolutionary tactics can turn into horrific terrorist acts, but nothing that we haven't seen already in the US and around the world. The revolution started by the NLF organization, which is doomed to become the 'terrorist' organization fairly quickly, kicks off the uprising by killing French police, then innocent French people on the streets and escalating to bombing entire innocent French hangouts. But they don't progress without retaliation from the French government. Both sides use fairly convincing justifications for their actions. Many questions are raised but conclusions are left for the viewers to insert.
It is a classic war between the suppressed and the suppressors, the weak and the powerful, the more civil and lawfully awful, but what's more to this movie is that those labels can shift throughout scene to scene and that's when the analogies start forming with our situation here today in the US and around the world, becoming all the more exciting to watch. At times of war, rules are broken, policies are changed or rewritten, the humanity of each side is questioned, and powers are abused. So keep you eye glued and ear undisturbed.
What I found astounding about this movie is that after watching the movie you can follow up on the movie to see what has happened after the revolution over 40 years later and you'll see that just as recently as Dec. 11, 2007 there were terrorists attacks in Algeria but this time it's not against the French but against their own people, just as one of the NLF leaders in the movie forecast about the state of Algiers after the revolution has ended, stating that chaos could continue long after. It is very interesting. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to sharpen their knowledge of Wars against Terrorism, or to just watch a great movie!