Depiction of the After War Struggles in the Documentary Battle of Algiers

“The Battle of Algiers” is a dramatized documentary that showcases the post war struggles of the Algerian public who want to free themselves from French colonial rule. The French did not respond very well to this and reacted very aggressively and brutal to try and maintain their position. At first glance the film seems to be a documentary.

It is shot in black and white and the actors look like they were there. This was so much of a misunderstanding that there was a disclaimer at the start of the movie to indicate that no news real or documentary forage was used in the movie. One of the main characters in the movie was Ali La Pointe, was actually a man the film crew recruited from Algerias streets. Ali is very street wise and after he is captured by the French, after witnesses the execution of his fellow Algerians he becomes radicalized. Ali establishes terrorist cells to help cary out attacks against the French, as well as enforce extreme conservative islam to rid Algeria from some of the French’s negative influences like alcohol and drugs.

Ali embodied the Algerian everyman, a man who’s had enough of the indignities of occupation and who’s willing to die for his countries liberation. The FLN lashes out at French occupation by attacking the police and bombing military and civilian targets, them melting away into the Casbah. The French respond with the same play book that has largely backfired on the US in Iraq and Afghanistan which includes but not limited to: mass arrests, toucher, home searches, check points, and blowing up suspected hide outs (even if civilians are killed in the process).

The French military, like the US, make the same mistake in assuming that because there are only a small number of fighters, there must not be popular support; when actually the opposite is true. They also believed that the resistance can be beaten by eliminating a small number of insurgent leaders. Despite the cruel behavior of the French, the movie does a great job in showing the struggles of both side.

The viewer sympathies with the outnumbered French police, who are a little more than sitting ducks. The French military isn’t demonized, rather portrayed as men given a job to do. In one of the movies most crucial scenes, a group of Algerian women westernize their looks to infiltrate and bomb a crowded French hand out, but before the bombs go off we see shots of the children and civilians who are about to become victims of the attacks. We also see that the bombers have accepted this and it wouldn’t let it stop them.

In the end as a member of the audience I cant help but root for the Algerians, how can I not. The Algerian land is the one being concluded by a foreign military, who treats the Algerians as sub human. You can win every battle but still lose the war. You cannot intimidate and use people into giving up their own country.