The Battle of Algiers [Criterion Collection] [3 Discs]

Director: Gillo Pontecorvo Gillo Pontecorvo

Overview

This highly political film about the Algerian struggle for independence from France took "Best Film" honors at the 1966 Venice Film Festival. The bulk of the film is shot in flashback, presented as the memories of Ali (Brahim Haggiag), a leading member of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN), when finally captured by the French in 1957. Three years earlier, Ali was a petty thief who joined the secretive organization in order to help rid the Casbah of vice associated with the colonial government. The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French government to quell what soon becomes a nationwide revolt. After the flashback, Ali and the last of the FLN leaders are killed, and the film takes on a more general focus, leading to the declaration of Algerian independence in 1962. Director Gillo Pontecorvo's careful re-creation of a complicated guerrilla struggle presents a rather partisan view of some complex social and political issues, which got the film banned in France for many years. That should not come as a surprise, for La Battaglia di Algeri was subsidized by the Algerian government and -- with the exception of Jean Martin and Tommaso Neri as French officers -- the cast was entirely Algerian as well. At least three versions exist, running 135, 125, and 120 minutes.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/03/2013
UPC:	0715515109611
Original Release:	1966
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	2:01:00
Sales rank:	18,519

Special Features

Disc One: The Battle Of Algiers New high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Marcello Gatti Production gallery Theatrical and rerelease trailers New English subtitle translation Disc Two: Pontecorvo And The Film Gillo Pontecorvo: The Dictatorship Of Truth, a documentary narrated by literary critic Edward Said Marxist Poetry: The Making Of "The Battle Of Algiers," a documentary featuring interviews with Pontecorvo, Gatti, and composer Ennio Morricone, among others Interviews with filmmakers Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Julian Schnabel, Steven Soderbergh, And Oliver Stone on the film's influence, style, and importance Disc Three: The Film And History Remembering History, a documentary on the Algerian experience of the battle for independence "États d'armes," a documentary excerpt fearuring senior French military officers recalling the use of torture and execution to combat the Algerian rebellion "The Battle of Algiers" : A Case Study, a program featuring U.S. counterterrorism experts Gillo Pontecorvo's Return To Algiers, a documentary in which the filmmaker revisits the country after three decades of independence

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Saadi Yacef	Djafar
Jean Martin	Colonel Mathieu
Brahim Haggiag	Ali La Pointe
Tommaso Neri	Captain
Samia Kerbash	One of the Girls,Fathia
Fawzia el Kader	Halima
Mohamed Ben Kassen	Petit Omar
Brahim Hadjadj	Ali la Pointe
Gene Wesson	Actor
Franco Moruzzi	Actor
Ennio Morricone	Composer
Gillo Pontecorvo	Composer

Technical Credits

Gillo Pontecorvo

Franco Solinas

Gillo Pontecorvo	Director,Screenwriter
Franco Solinas	Screenwriter
Antonio Musu	Producer
Saadi Yacef	Producer
Fred Baker	Executive Producer
Aldo Gasparri	Special Effects

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- The Battle of Algiers
1. Opening Titles: Algiers, 1957 [6:40]
2. Algiers, 1954: Ali La Pointe [3:13]
3. Witness To An Execution [2:27]
4. Message From Jaffar [5:38]
5. FLN Communiqué No. 24 [4:03]
6. A Wedding Ceremony [2:39]
7. June 20, 1956, 10:32... [2:09]
8. Police Precinct [2:29]
9. Barricades And Barbed Wire [:47]
10. July 20, 1956, 11:20... [4:44]
11. No. 8, The Casbah [4:56]
12. "The FLN Will Avenge You!" [1:39]
13. Three Women [6:53]
14. Three Bombs [5:46]
15. Paratroopers Arrive [1:22]
16. A Faceless Enemy [5:07]
17. General Strike [3:12]
18. Larbi Ben M'Hidi [4:15]
19. Raiding The Casbah [3:08]
20. A Word From Col. Mathieu [1:58]
21. Intelligence Gathering [2:05]
22. Day Six Of The Strike [2:06]
23. UN Resolution [3:50]
24. Four FLN Leaders [5:49]
25. February, 25, 1957: The Racetrack [1:19]
26. Press Conference With Ben M'Hidi [2:38]
27. "We Are Soldiers. Our Duty Is To Win." [4:04]
28. Public Tortue, Random Killing [2:37]
29. August 26, 1957: Ramel And Murad [3:41]
30. September 24, 1957: Jaffar [3:40]
31. "Ali La Pointe Is Still Free" [3:54]
32. Mahmud, Hassiba, Omar, And Ali [4:56]
33. December 11, 1960: Uprising [4:36]
34. "Long Live Algeria!" [2:47]
35. Color Bars [:01]
Disc #2 -- The Battle of Algiers: Pontecorvo And The Film
1. Introduction [2:56]
2. Youth And Politics [7:34]
3. Kapò To The Battle Of Algiers [8:36]
4. Burn! And Ogro [10:00]
5. Burden Of His Convictions [6:11]
6. Questions Raised [2:09]
1. "A Marxist Poet" [2:32]
2. Gillo And Franco [3:17]
3. Parà To The Battle Of Algiers [7:28]
4. Finding The Right Face [6:09]
5. "Reportage, Reportage" [2:51]
6. "The Heart Of The Subject" [6:03]
7. Under Gillo's Direction [7:05]
8. Editing And Music [7:56]
9. The Golden Lion [5:06]
10. Epilogue [2:47]
1. Five Directors As Viewers [5:58]
2. The Choices Pontecorvo Made [3:56]
3. Poetry And Politics [3:41]
4. Making Political Films Today [3:38]
Disc #3 -- The Battle of Algiers: The Film And History
1. Introductions [3:28]
2. The Film And History [1:46]
3. Colonization/The Algerians Organize [11:43]
4. November 1, 1954: The War Begins [6:36]
5. From Country To City/FLN Leadership [7:04]
6. Bombings And Retaliations [12:54]
7. The Battle Of Algiers [8:38]
8. Tortue [7:10]
9. The Battle Ends, The War Continues [6:49]
10. Epilogue [2:35]
1. A City At War [3:56]
2. "Cop Work" [2:02]
3. "Everyone Must Talk" [3:23]
4. Dirty Work [2:53]
5. Larbi Ben M'Hidi [4:40]
6. War Crimes [4:06]
7. Approval From The Top [7:21]
1. Terrorism [9:03]
2. Torture [5:46]
3. "Hearts & Minds" [1:37]
4. Lessons [8:10]
1. Credits/Boudiaf Assassinated [5:05]
2. Twenty-Seven Years Later [4:27]
3. Fearing A Fundamentalist State [5:00]
4. Memory Lane [8:30]
5. Islam And The Media [5:46]
6. Islamic Identity [3:40]
7. Acceptance And Access [7:34]
8. Two Worlds [7:06]
9. The Casbah, 1992: Empty Promises [9:13]
10. A Final Conversation With Boudiaf [1:40]

Menu

Disc #1 -- The Battle of Algiers
   Play The Movie
   Chapters
   Production Gallery
   Theatrical Trailers
      Original Theatrical
      Rialto Re-Release
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On
      Subtitles: Off
Disc #2 -- The Battle of Algiers: Pontecorvo And The Film
   Gillo Pontecorvo: The Dictatorship Of Truth
      Play
      Index
   Marxist Poetry: The Making Of The Battle Of Algiers
      Play
      Index
   Five Directors
      Play
      Index
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On
      Subtitles: Off
Disc #3 -- The Battle of Algiers: The Film And History
   Remembering History
      Play
      Index
   "États D'Armes"
      Play
      Index
   A Case Study
      The Battle Of Algiers: A Case Study
         Play
         Index
   Return To Algiers
      Gillo Pontecorvo's Return To Algiers
         Play
         Index
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On
      Subtitles: Off

Editorial Reviews

A forerunner of the "docudrama," this 1965 Italian-Algerian co-production won a slew of awards and became an unlikely international success that remains eerily resonant today. It shows the guerrilla war for Algerian independence from the French in 1954 as seen through the eyes of some of the participants. Shot in the actual locations, mixing actors with real-life combatants and eschewing the use of stock or newsreel footage, Battle comes across as probably being closer to the truth than any straight documentary could have been, mainly because it captures the complexities of the situation without resorting to facile finger-pointing. Although banned in France for many years, the film has become accepted as a masterpiece of its kind, conveying emotion without ignoring cold, hard facts. Its principal asset is a rigorous, impartial examination of views held by both sides, carefully woven into the narrative. Director Gillo Pontecorvo never again made a motion picture of Battle's style, depth, or impact; but his place film history is assured nonetheless, if only on the strength of this powerfully affecting movie.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

The principal characteristic of Gillo Pontecorvo's La Battaglia di Algeri (The Battle of Algiers) is its ferocious authenticity. It is a monument of neo-realism in the best tradition of Vittorio De Sica (Shoeshine, Bicycle Thieves) and Roberto Rossellini (Rome, Open City). La Battaglia di Algeri is made with such astonishing, feral realism that it effectively blurs the line between documentary and fiction filmmaking. Using professional and non-professional actors, and, unbelievably, no newsreel footage, Pontecorvo draws out the passion and story of the Algerian people trying to free themselves from French rule in the mid-Fifties. There are any number of striking, memorable sequences, and the film became influential for the revolutionary mentality which hit the United States around the same time (it was apparently a favorite film of The Black Panthers). A stylistic connection can also be made between one of the most important American films of the 1960s, Bonnie and Clyde, and this movie, which preceded it by a year.

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