A grim and haunting portrait of how human nature responds to being wronged. La Battaglia di Algeri is a vast film that intricately shows the beginnings of the revolution of Algeria. You, as the audience, follow many different people from both sides of the fence through the uprising of the terrorist organization known as the FLN. It was mind blowing, and a little eerie, watching this film recently because of how prophetic it truly is. It gives us glimpses into the brain of a terrorist and this relatively new form of warfare. I call it prophetic because 45 years later these exact kinds of war are still being fought in a very similar manner. It’s strange to think it was made so many years ago when it feels so relevant today.

The story plays out in a fairly emotionless way, almost like a documentary, in order to allow the audience to paint the events with their own emotion. It reminds me most of Steven Soderberg’s “Che” in both style and subject. I think that revolutionary stories should be told this way because it connects with the audience regardless of the cultural mindset they bring into the film. The direction in all of this is basically perfect. Blending stark black and white images with perfectly timed editing made it extremely engaging. And the performances somehow achieve realism without having to be emotionally bare. In a lot of respects these performances are rather dry and should be uninteresting, but wether it was thanks to the direction, ore the story, they always felt like real people and evoked empathy.

This evocative film is as important today as it was when it came out, and even though I watched it when I was completely exhausted, it was an immersive and beautifully heartbreaking experience. A true masterpiece of cinema.