The Battle of Algiers: Critical Analysis

The movie begins in the year of 1757 and the French and British are at war with various Indians taking part on both sides. The main part is about the 1757 siege of a British fortress; Fort William Henry.

The book An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942-1943 gives the reader valuable insight into the campaign in North Africa in 1942-1943 for both Allied and the German forces. The narrative follows the American and British armies as they fought the Vichy French in Morocco and Algiers, and then later when they fight the Germans and the Italians for Tunisia. The novel follows the inexperienced and ill-led soldiers from battle to battle as they gradually become a more cohesive and deadly fighting force. This novel also centers around the almost mythical but also flawed commanders who dominate the battlefield and write their names in the history books: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel.

Since its release in 1966, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers has divided critical opinion. The film which depicts the Algerian struggle for independence, was awarded the Lion d'Or at the 1966 Venice Film Festival and nominated a year later for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film. Despite this acclaim, the inherently controversial film was banned in France until 1971 due to its graphic portrayal of torture and repression during the war. Heavily influenced by the distinctive film style Neorealism, the politically engaged director sought to make a film which was produced and shot within a 'dictatorship of truth.' These neorealist aesthetics (hand-held camera, non professional actors) rendered such an extraordinarily accurate reflection of

II Marine was closing in on the 3rd Army Division of the Southern States of America. So far, there had been no order from DoD asking the Marines to halt in place. Marine scouts had located the rear echelon of the 3rd and a day later they found the main body. The 3rd had held up ten miles from the rear echelon of the 3rd ID. The Marines that had radio communications with the 3rd ID notified them of the discovery. The 3rd ID graciously thanked the Marines, but told them they already knew.

The fighting continued as Algerians got support from both sides. In the end a peace negotiation was made between the French and FLN so Algeria gained independence on July 5, 1962. This began Algerians long line of

The imperialism of Algiers started in 1820 when the French refused to pay for wheat from Algeria. Ten years later, the French invaded Algeria and gained control of their country and was eventually a departement of France (departement are like states). The French built many villages that were very similar to those in France. Many European countries at this time were looking to take over countries in Africa. France picked Algeria because it was near the ocean, had fertile lands, petroleum, natural gases, uranium, and many resources. France wanted to create jobs for those who fought in the Napoleonic Wars because they didn’t have enough jobs in France. France also wanted to pay off their debt from the many wars they had. Lastly, they wanted to spread their religion because they thought

French colonization continued to spread southwards in Africa. The effect France’s imperialism had over Algeria during this time had to do with modernizing their agricultural and commercial economy-Involved the use of slavery. The French had an advantage now

Another impact that had happened because of imperialism is that the men became defiant due to the French violating their tradition. “The french had done all of this because they had no care for anything but power and gaining as much land as they had lost in past wars”(Synad 211). French impacted Algeria in several ways one of those ways being that in order to be an Algerian citizen with french rights, algerians had to give up their muslim identity. This was not only the most disrespectful thing the french could have done but it had finally pushed the Algerians passed the edge. Another horrific thing they attempted to do was to change the education so they would have been learning french

Last week August 1955 123 civilians in Philippeville were executed by the FLN. The FLN was only supposed to only go after military targets. Until a commander decided to make order that would do otherwise. This was the very start of Algeria winning its independence. The government claimed it killed 1,273 guerrillas in retaliation; according to the FLN. Almost 12,000 Muslims perished by a blood gang of armed forces and police. In the end over 1200 to 12000 civilians were killed in retaliation to the Philippeville massacre that killed 123 people. The Philippeville massacre was a big turning point for the Algerian war. In late june the FLN announced total war on French civilians regardless of their sex or age. Leader of the FLN Zighout said “To

This was their targets for the start of the insurgency on November 1st.They would walk up shoot the policeman in the head or shoot him in the chest and double tap in the head to insure that the officer was killed. The FLN had to change tactics when the French military became involved especially when they were on strike to gain UN approval for an Algerian nation free from France but the French Army forced them to their jobs and work. They instituted a curfew and checkpoints between the two parts of Algeria where the French citizen were and the Algerian people were housed. They then instituted bombs after their homes were bombed and burned killing their family members and children. The FLN then built purse bombs to attack the French civilians at local areas such as a restaurant, airport, and dance club. They also started to attack the military when threatened and hid weapons in the French occupied territory to attack the policemen. The French civilians were also tired of friends and family getting killed so they started to attack Algerian children whenever they saw them. The French citizens almost killed a young boy by trampling and kicking him when he was on the ground until the police pulled the child to safety.

During the Battle of Algiers, where the French military killed many of the leaders of the Algiers group and was looking for one more. Many Algerians had experienced “enhanced interrogation”, also known as torture, to find out where the last Algerian leader was. When the French Colonel asked to take him to where the leader’s location was, the beggar detoured for a few short seconds to not answer or tell where he was, but colonel simply asked, “Do you want the torture to continue?” The Algerian changed his mind again, and led them to where the leader was, obviously not wanting to go through anymore torture by the French (Macmaster, 5). This example shows that when put in the circumstance, they may want to stray for a few short moments but in

The FLN moved war to the cities hoping to gain international attention (Battle of Algiers)

Since its release in 1966, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers has divided critical opinion. The film which depicts the Algerian struggle for independence against French colonial power, was awarded the Lion d'Or at the 1966 Venice Film Festival. Yet, despite this acclaim, the inherently controversial film was banned in France until 1971 due to its graphic portrayal of torture and repression during the Algerian war. The politically engaged director had however sought to make The Battle of Algiers within a 'dictatorship of truth,' neither supporting the Algerians nor reducing his film to propaganda. Influenced by the distinctive film style Neorealism, Pontecorvo rendered such an extraordinarily accurate reflection of social reality that

The film The Battle of Algiers managed to portray not only a physical battle between the National Liberation Front of Algiers and the French, but also an ideological battle of competing visions of nationalism. Rather than creating a false dichotomy in which one side was good or evil, it used complex and dynamic characters in order to portray the road to Algerian Independence as the complicated situation it was. Unlike a documentary, it focused more on characters living their lives rather than historical dates and politics; which is what made it compelling. One idea the movie stressed was how both sides of the nationalism debate were capable of acts of atrocity and terrorism. The movie begins with an emotional and striking scene of a visibly

Algeria was not always been independent and has been a part of several border and authority changes. Since its independency, Algeria has struggled to define its cultural identity. Several strategies have been employed to gain ground on its identity, such as promoting a policy of Arabization, loosening up the economy, and opening their political sphere. “Today the Algerian government seeks not only to sustain the recent ebb in violence and insecurity but also to promote greater unity within the country” (Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, 2011).