Since its release in 1966, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers has divided critical opinion. The film which depicts the Algerian struggle for independence against French colonial power, was awarded the Lion d'Or at the 1966 Venice Film Festival. Yet, despite this acclaim, the inherently controversial film was banned in France until 1971 due to its graphic portrayal of torture and repression during the Algerian war. The politically engaged director had however sought to make The Battle of Algiers within a 'dictatorship of truth,' neither supporting the Algerians nor reducing his film to propaganda. Influenced by the distinctive film style Neorealism, Pontecorvo rendered such an extraordinarily accurate reflection of social reality that the film's original U.S. distributor inserted the disclaimer: "Not one foot of newsreel or documentary film has been used." The following sequence analysis will therefore explore the neorealist cinematic techniques employed by Pontecorvo and examine their effects on our understanding of the issues and themes raised within the film.
In the sequence chosen we begin at the end of the story. Shot on location in Algiers, the year is 1957. An Algerian nationalist has revealed the whereabouts of the last FLN member Ali La Pointe. The French Military, determined to suppress the Independent Movement have stormed the Casbah and have finally located 'la tête du ténia' behind a tiled wall. Before the climatic ending, Pontecorvo's complex temporal structure transports us to the year 1954, here the film traces the transformation of Ali La Pointe from petty criminal to nationalist martyr.
In the opening sequence, the FLN and the French military are cinematically pitched against each other through the ...
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...e previous sequence, between the European youths and Ali La Pointe, visually justifies Ali’s rebelliousness.
When the police arrive, Ali flees until; he is tripped up by a young Frenchman who in turn receives a brutal punch from Ali.
France v Algeria represented through protagonists Ali La Pointe and Colonial Mathieu
A voice-over lists Ali’s record as a petty criminal and past as a boxer, thief, and ruffian. The image accompanying the narration is a close shot of Ali under arrest, walking with the police officer. The music is Arabic. The scene is later paralleled by the arrival of Mathieu parading before waving Frenchmen while the narrator intones a description of Mathieu’s exploits.
due to the Italo-Algerian coproduction, it can be argued that Pontecorvo anoints the FLN with the status of victim. Music - Complex interrelationships between sound and image.
In the piece “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism,” Jean Luc-Comolli and Jean Narboni define the critic's job as the discernment of “which films, books and magazines allow the ideology a free, unhampered passage, transmit it with crystal clarity, serve as its chosen language” and which films “attempt to make it turn back and reflect itself, intercept it, make it visible by revealing its mechanisms, by blocking them” (753). Through their examination, seven film categories are outlined. Clue falls into the “E” category, which is defined as “films which seem at first sight to belong firmly within the ideology and to be completely under its sway, but which turn out to be so only in an ambiguous manner” (75...
The sequence chosen comes moments after the revelation by an old Algerian nationalist of the whereabouts of the last FLN member Ali La Pointe. The French Military, determined to suppress the Independent Movement have stormed the Casbah and have finally located 'la tête du ténia' behind a tiled wall. This sequence therefore effectively begins at the end of the story in the year 1957, the complex temporal structure is evident as we regress to the year 1954, here the film traces the transformation of Ali La Pointe from petty criminal to nationalist martyr.
Rosenstone, R.A, "The Historical Film: Looking at the Past in a Postliterate Age," in The Historical Film: History and Memory in Media, edited by Marcia Landy, (New Brunswick,New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2001): 50-66.
The screenwriter chose an effective way of illustrating the point of attack, establishing the setting and handling of exposition. The first scene of the film was a black screen which had audio of a man and a woman having a conversation. After, the film switches to a grainy video of men being detained by police. The video clip manages to bring the dramatic tension to all time high because an unidentified character is shot by the police. Therefore, this left a sense of uneasiness and tension throughout the whole film. The beginning of the film also did a wonderful job of establishing the setting. The scene of the grainy video clip had a caption box stating it was “Fruitvale BART Station 2:15AM New Year’s Day 2009”. The film then introduces the
Entering a war is an effort that is best when it has popular support and enthusiasm. Casablanca is propaganda for the Allied forces to help rally support. There is clear evidence of this idea in the scene with the French national anthem, the character development, and the ending. France and the United States prevail as Germany falls and dies.
Not only that, just two nights before, he’d asked me if I wanted to see El Cid with Charlton Heston at Cinema Aryana” (81). Amir seems to love this kind of treatment from Baba. The rape is still a lingering thought in the back of Amir’s mind that is trying to escape. Does Amir tell somebody about the rape and ruin his own reputation, or does he keep it a secret and let Hassan suffer from the pain he feels? Amir chooses the latter. Some would say that this decision was brought on by Baba’s treatment of Amir. If Baba would have treated Amir like a son and not favored Hassan throughout his childhood, he might not yearn for Baba’s approval so deeply. Not only does Amir keep the rape a secret, he also tries to completely remove Hassan and Ali from his life by getting them fired as servants. Amir tries to get rid of his guilt by committing more immoral
Hewitt, Leah D. “Salubrious Scandals/Effective Provocations: Identity Politics Surrounding Lacombe Lucien,” South Central Review, Vol. 17, No. 3, Cinema Engage: Activist Filmmaking in French and Francophone Contexts, John Hopkins University Press, (Autumn 2000), pp. 71-85
Daru, the schoolteacher in a remote area of Algeria, is torn between duty and what he believes is the right thing to do when he is suddenly forced in the middle of a situation he does not expect. He must escort an Arabic prisoner to the nearest town. It is not that Daru has much sympathy for the man; in fact, he does not, and actually finds himself disliking the Arab for disrupting so many lives. "Daru felt a sudden wrath against the man, against all men with their rotten spite, their tireless hates, their blood lust." Unfortunately, Daru loves his homeland, and cannot bear to think of leaving, despite the chaos that is raging around him between France and the Algerian natives. I believe that Daru makes the right choice in letting the prisoner choose his own fate. Daru has reaso...
The man does so while shedding a tear and half-heartedly trying to escape; clearly being forced to do something against his will. Within the first seconds of the movie depicts a subtle, yet powerful, connection between violence and power. Col. Mathieu is using his perceived power, through punishment, over the Arabic man to find out where rebel Ali La Pointe and others are hiding- and has the viewers see, it works. Throughout the movie only one dimension of power is exerted- dominance, and while the Battle of Algiers was won by the National Liberation Front, the overall war was lost, giving Algiers independence. I would argue this is because while violence can create immediate power, it will never maintain power over a group of
Muhammad Ali is able to put himself in his father’s murders shoes and the shoes of that man’s family. Muhammad Ali may not understand the man’s actions but he is able to understand and have empathy, if he was to kill this man he is causing other people more pain and suffering.
In conclusion, while these filone films are often dismissed as "popularized Americanized cinema", in fact, the increasing postmodernizing of the vendetta motif reveals a complex system of uniquely Italian signification. As such, the institutionalization of violence and corruption in Italian society is a common motif in all of these films. Furthermore, in offering a more collective, family-centred approach to the vendetta motif, these films effectively reappropriate the American individualist spirit which typifies Hollywood film. In this way, we see the extent to which Italian cinema has been able to forge new forms of representation out of the culture of the colonizer.
The French New Wave era of film is known for its distinct style of experimental filmmaking and it’s celebration of youth and the city of Paris. One notable director of the time, François Truffaut and his film, Les Quatre Cents Coups, or The 400 Blows (1959), put the practices and ideas of the New Wave time period to use all while making a deeper point about the treatment of juveniles in the 1950s. Based on Truffaut’s own experiences as a child, The 400 Blows explores Paris through the eyes of a young boy trying to find his place in the world despite being misguided and misunderstood. Trying to make sense of the complications of boyhood, Truffaut approaches young Antoine in a sympathetic
La Rafle is a movie that is both entertaining and educational; it takes us into the lives of the Jewish children and families, who are living in France and still going through the horrors of extermination. This movie is a brave answer to the eroding memory of that time. We are faced to watch and learn about one of the most heinous atrocities ever committed by man, however such knowledge is needed for many survivors will not be alive to share their stories. Artifacts like museums and movies shed light on the events that occurred during the war.
Vichy France is a period of French history that has only fairly recently begun to be examined for what it truly is: a period in which many of the French turned against their own state and collaborated with the German forces to betray their own country. Until the eighties, the Vichy Regime was regarded as “an aberration in the evolution of the French Republic” (Munholland, 1994) , repressed by the French in an attempt to regain their national pride. ‘Lacombe Lucien’ (1974), directed by Louis Malle is a film which aims to capture the ambiguity of the era through the documentation of fictional collaborateur, Lucien.
..., Baba told him that a boy that doesn’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up for anything. As a boy, Amir fails to stand up for himself. But, Amir redeems himself as an adult by showing he has the courage to stand up for what is right. Amir travels back to Kabul so that he can right the wrongs of his childhood. In Kabul, Amir stands up to Assef and rescues Hassan’s son, Sohrab.