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The Battle of Algiers
The Battle of Algiers
8.9
/10
6,785 Ratings

THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS

La battaglia di Algeri

Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
Italy, Algeria, 1966
War, History

Synopsis

1950s Algeria: Ali La Pointe is recruited to join the National Liberation Front, becoming involved in its armed insurgency against the French colonial powers. French paratrooper Colonel Mathieu is entrusted with squelching the uprisings. As violence escalates on each side, no act is too unthinkable.

Synopsis

1950s Algeria: Ali La Pointe is recruited to join the National Liberation Front, becoming involved in its armed insurgency against the French colonial powers. French paratrooper Colonel Mathieu is entrusted with squelching the uprisings. As violence escalates on each side, no act is too unthinkable.

Our take

One of the most significant political films ever made, Gilles Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers is pure revolutionary cinema. Shot on location in newsreel-style B&W, it uses mostly non-professional actors whose lived experience of the battle inform the drama—to a spectacular Ennio Morricone score.