The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo, 1966): Barbican Cinema, 8.30pm
This
film shows as part of the excellent Step Into The Dark season to
celebrate the opening of brand new screens at the Barbican Cinema. More
details here.
Chicago Reader review:
'Gillo Pontecorvo's powerful and lucid 1965 docudrama about the Algerian
struggle for independence in the 1950s was screened for Pentagon
employees in August 2003, though one wonders how helpful it might have
been: the terrorists here aren't suicidal or religiously motivated, and
their orientation seems quite different from that of contemporary Middle
Eastern types. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't see this—it's one of
the best movies about revolutionary and anticolonial activism ever
made, convincing, balanced, passionate, and compulsively watchable as
storytelling. The French aren't depicted as heavies, despite their use
of torture, nor are the Algerian rebels, who set off bombs in cafes. In
fact the French colonel here (Jean Martin, the only professional actor
in the cast) expresses admiration for the rebels, who ultimately
achieved their goals when Algeria won its independence. In French and
Arabic with subtitles.'Jonathan Rosenabum
Here is the trailer
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