VHS Movie Reviews for Battle of Algiers

Battle of Algiers

	List Price: ~~$19.98~~ Category: VHS Video See more movie releases

(Click here)

Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada

VHS Movie Reviews of Battle of Algiers

Movie Review: A Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars

My review is based on the film alone, since I have not seen the extras included in the Criterion edition.

This film was commissioned, according to IMDB, by the Algerian government. And yet it is, in my opinion, balanced, nuanced, and complex, not propagandistic. Crimes against innocents are committed by both sides, and are portrayed with the gravitas of a Biblical epic or Greek tragedy. If an objective movie about any revolution could be made, it would look like this. The filmmakers did not preach, did not lead viewers to preordained conclusions based on flimsy caricatures of difficult people. Was Ali La Pointe a hero? Yes, and an anti-hero as well. French Colonel Mathieu was also hero (he was in the Nazi resistance, after all) and anti-hero (he orders torture, but will not call it that). The people of Algeria wanted their independence from France as passionately as the people of India from England and the people of the American colonies from England. Who was a freedom fighter? Who was a terrorist? Jaffar, one of the revolt's leaders, says (I'm paraphrasing) that terrorism is an effective way to begin, but after that the people have to commit to a revolution, and after the revolution is won, the hard work begins.

If current affairs seem to you to be a clear case of right and wrong, black and white, I highly recommend this film. It throws a stark light on the struggle between law-and-order and freedom-and-justice: the two principles do not always live comfortably together. It will remind you of The Godfather, of Citizen Kane . . . and any other film that boldly shows that nobility and barbarity thrive in both the best and the worst of us. As other reviewers, and even the Pentagon, have recently noted, this film is highly relevant to today's world. Not many peoples will welcome, or even tolerate, an occupying force for very long. When they decide to throw off that yoke, the occupying country is in for a very difficult time.

Movie Review: Oldie but Goodie
Summary: 5 Stars

By Far the best movie to document the algerian war. A Must See for Film Buffs

Movie Review: Lessons of history indeed!
Summary: 4 Stars

This film now being touted as a 'lesson in history' (even though there is little comparason to the Iraq war)it is indeed a lesson in history.

Almost every war/civil war since the Algerian war of independence has been veiwed through the eyes of the Algerian war, even Robert Fisk during the recent Algerian civil war gave us the idea that the civil war was something of a 'continuation' of the initial F.L.N struggle. It should be kept in mind however, that this film was and always has been the darling of the far left and has little if anything to do with recent Islamist movements.

Regarding the historical lessons there are many to gather, the use of bombing campaigns against civiliam targets (a cafe in one scene) The use of females to carry bombs past checkpoints because the French would "not dare to search an Algerian woman" On the part of the French, the enclosing of entire sections of the city turning them into impoverished ghettos, torture to 'gather information', target killing of leaders asuming that this will 'quell the rebellion'

Lessons indeed, not least events that followed in Algeria, how those who fought for independence turned a country into their own personal property, a military that cancelled a legitimate election, lessons indeed not just for Algeria but for Africa and the Middle East. The same lessons have not been learned Zimbabwae being the perfect example, ex revolutionary turns dictator.

While the film surrounds the life of an ex petty criminal turned revolutionary (how very leftist!) and attention is given to the lives of ordianry people in the Arab quarter, how marriages were conducted under the terrible conditions of near seige and not least how the F.L.N. began to administer their own law within the lawless Arab quater. Little is given to the rural battles where some of the bitterest fighting took place and while many today may think there are some comparasons with the current situation in Iraq please keep in mind, this film along with Land and Freedom was the film to watch if you were a young left wing student it's hardly a blueprint of current conflicts.

An interesing film but would be far more useful if watching wishing to learn something of the struggle for independence and the post independence struggle in what is called the 'developing world', something that continues to this day.

Movie Review: not sure the film is as relevant as it's touted to be
Summary: 3 Stars

If, for some reason, you are a loyal fan of Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 black-and-white "The Battle of Algiers," then your train has definitely come into the station with this release. (The film, by the way, is an Italian one, though many seem to think it was French.)

What you are buying is the deluxe box, believe me, with all the bells and whistles: three exhaustively informative disks laden with extras, and a handsomely produced booklet.

The subtitles are available only in English, in white print. You can remove them and hear only the French, but you cannot get either French or Italian subtitles, or Italian or English audio. So I guess if you're a polyglot purist, your train has yet to come in.

As for the film itself, you're getting a mixed bag, in my view. The box proclaims it a film with "astonishing relevance today" -- presumably a reference to America's quagmire in Iraq.

Well, the film certainly captures the chaos, confusion, and simple undoability of trying to govern a contrarian people who simply don't want to be governed -- and have access to gunpowder.

One of its central merits is the way in which it limns war as an irretrievably ugly business. There are some good tense moments, but the pace is jerky overall, and from time to time gets downright tedious (it takes a strictly calendrical approach to the action). It would have benefited, I feel, from better characterization.

Also: it's hard to symphathize with anything or anybody in the film. The methods of the insurgents do not render them admirable, much less heroic. And the French: is there nothing they won't stoop to? Yes, in this film, folks, absolutely nobody has the moral high ground; unlike, I submit, our current foray into Mesopotamia, where we are at least trying to do the right thing. It is for this reason I remain unconvinced about the "relevance" today of Pontecorvo's film.

Worse, we are never really told what the insurgents are fighting for, or why. As for the French, what on earth are they going out of their way to hold the property for? Can they really think it worth the trouble. Certainly, there are very definite answers to these questions, but you've gotta bring them to the film yourself.

To sum up: After spending a few attentive hours with this film, I can definitely see while many consider it a worthwhile but not truly great piece of work. I definitely started getting bored toward the end until the film became a positive chore to watch. Parts of it struck me as confusing, inept, and even naive.

And what's with the festive Mexican cover?