The representation of violence and ethnic oppression in Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers and Kassovitz’s La Haine (Hate) is shown through multiple scenes and themes throughout both films. Though set forty years apart, the violence of French police and ethnic oppression faced by non-French peoples are strikingly similar. One recurring theme falls under Manichaeism as defined by Frantz Fanon in his work The Wretched of the Earth. Fanon describes the term as a division between upper-class and lower-class populated areas. The division becomes apparent not naturally, but through the enforcement of the French police. There still exists a debate on the way the French government handles non-French peoples and whether it is too similar to the actions witnessed in the films The Battle of Algiers and La Haine. The Battle of Algiers tells the story of the Algerian fight for independence in 1956 after being controlled as a colony of France since the 1830s. The film was created with the help of the Front de Libération Nationale, the nationalist group behind the Algerian revolution, and tells the story of independence from the non-French …show more content…
While the Algerians fight in guerilla style, the French are shown throughout the film in units, wearing full military dress and openly carrying weapons. The Battle of Algiers includes several scenes of French officials reacting to the resistance of the Algerians and gives the viewer an insight into the French opinion of the Algerians. Often the dialogue makes the French officials seem more concerned about maintaining Algiers as a colony than about the well being of the Algerian people. Further, the violence of the Algerian people is seen as a form of release after the violence and oppression they have endured from the French Police, which follows a point of Frantz Fanon that a violent colonial regime makes for a violent decolonization later
The French occupation is a confrontation between exported modernity and an old regime: the French revolutionaries and their dominance over the Ottoman social order that is markedly different in contrast; and, al-Jabarti reports on how it transfers cross-culturally. Levels of contestation, open and/or secretive acceptances give way to losses and gains driven by high emotion – even for this writer. He “describes very carefully every step in the negotiation of the organization of society, from administration to inheritance, from property to charity or from justice to deliberation.”
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, was awarded the Lion d'Or at the 1966 Venice Film Festival and nominated a year later for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film. Despite this acclaim, the inherently controversial film was banned in France until 1971 due to its graphic portrayal of torture and repression during the war. Heavily influenced by the distinctive film style Neorealism, the politically engaged director sought to make a film which was produced and shot within a 'dictatorship of truth.' These neorealist aesthetics (hand-held camera, non professional actors) 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."
Allusions to philosophers and other authors pepper “Create Dangerously,” reflecting how the people use the words of those that came before them to make the best of their own reality. The most highlighted philosopher within the paper is Albert Camus, by whom the title “Create Dangerously” was inspired. Not only does Danticat quote and speak of Camus within the essay, but tells of how the people of Haiti would put on his play quietly, quietly in the basements of their homes in secret, finding invigoration in the philosopher’s absurdist and poignant words. " 'Execution relieves and liberates. It is a universal tonic, just in precept as in practice. A man dies because he is guilty. A man is guilty because he is one of Caligula’s subjects. Ergo all men are guilty and shall die. It is only a matter of time and patience' " quotes Danticat in reference to “quietly, quietly.”. By picking this quote, Danticat draws parallels to the death sentences given to the people of Haiti by the dictatorship, including Numa and Drouin, perpetuating the consistency of Danticat’s message. Camus was part of a dialogue that was strikingly similar to that of the people battling the Haitian dictatorship. He himself opposed the Nazi regime by editing an underground newspaper in France (Kellman 2011). Danticat’s affinity for Camus’ work is made more palpable seeing the similarities in what they have faced through their lifetime. Inciting small forms of rebellion is a lifeline for those faced with domination, more specifically an autocracy. The overall theme of the story is the importance of literature, especially in times of oppression and pain, and how it can be used to aid the human
The aforementioned scenario is a scene from the movie The Battle of Algiers directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. The Battle of Algiers is a film that depicts the violence of colonialism and decolonization in French Algeria. The Wretched of the Earth is a book written by Frantz Fanon that depicts the same violence. In both sources, both Pontecorvo and Fanon discuss the necessity of violence in decolonization. Although the film and text discusses violence in colonization and decolonization on a different scale and depth.
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
Recently it has been commonly said that America is making progress to reach racial equality, and it is believed that soon the treatment of the whole population will be equal regardless of one’s race. Although, in the academic and artistic circles, racial equality is very doubtful and not a consensus. In the photograph above, a black man is being assaulted by a white cop during a peaceful protest that happened in London for race equality. While the aggression happens, the other cops just look at it without acting, as if it was normal and they were not liable for their actions. The photograph can be interpreted in different ways, but one main question comes up when analyzing it: How does the violence used by the police to oppress the black protester
Since then it has become a rallying call to African-Americans all over the nation and has been the cause of several demonstrations turned riot, the most infamous of these taking place in Ferguson, Missouri. (Sidner-Simon, The Rise of Black Lives Matter: Trying to break the cycle of violence and silence) As these potentially violent demonstrations are something to be wary of, the Black Lives Matter group has taken to policing themselves. Why not let the police do it? It is their job after all. The answer to that question lies yet again in Ferguson, Missouri. After severe rioting in Ferguson, law enforcement officers have come to fear the “Ferguson effect.” It is this fear that has kept them from doing their jobs by avoiding violent confrontations which has potentially caused them to no longer effectively do their jobs.(Buchanan, Blue Lives Matter) This response to violence with violence is what has shaped our police force, this is what has kept both officers and the general public safe. If these officers can no longer confidently do their job, then society as a whole could very well be at risk from
One might define the relations between police and community relations in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto to be very discriminating. The start of the film already gives some insight on the issue which the film is trying to portray. A coloured man’s is being harassed because the police do not think that he has ownership for the van to which he claimed he owned. The police were violating his rights and treating him in an impolite manner simply because of the standard that has been set, claiming that all coloured individuals are violent and dangerous. This is also the case because the film has been recorded in the Jane and Finch area; where people are looked down upon and regarded as dangerous, violent and unemployed.
Through this query it is first shown that there is a social issue that is being addressed. This acknowledges the pathos of Davis’ informative video, showing the young men especially small kids who are aware and encountering Racial Discrimination on their everyday lives. Davis further promotes pathos by showing the shame and confusion of these young men. They eagerly asked the questions “Why are the people that are supposed to protect me attacking me? Why are you afraid of me? Why am I afraid of people who are supposed to protect me? Why do you only stop if it is me?” These accusations are thrown by the young men in her video to elicit the inequity they are getting from the people who are “supposed” to protect them. Thus, informing the people who are to protect them, the police for that matter if they are doing their job which is to protect and be lawful to all citizens. This conveys how ruthless they are to them. The injustice is so evident if these young boys know this happens to them or other people who they might know. This also shows the viewers’ great sense of compassion for the young boys because in a very young age, they are well-informed about this, realizing it and suffering from this matter. Other questions that demonstrate pathos that they voice
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.
Before beginning the quartet, Djebar, trained as a historian, undertook an oral history project that involved probing Algerian women’s collective memory. In the mid 1970’s she interviewed women in her native region of Cherchell which participated in the independence struggle. The majority that she had interviewed was young women during the war, facing danger and hardship with the male soldiers. Djebar then selected pieces of women’s narratives and inserted them into Fantasia, bringing together the oral history of Algeria.
In Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon looks at the effects of both racism and the process of colonization on the colonized. Even though Fanon’s work targets a French audience, it holds a universal message which is significant to anyone who is exposed to racism and/or colonialism whether they are the oppressor or the oppressed. While Black Skins, White Masks was written over half a century ago, is Fanon’s work still relevant today? In this short paper I will look at some of the themes of racism, colonization and the complex relationships they create among various groups as well as the inner turmoil which may be created within the subjugated group.
In the French film entitled Lumumba, director Raoul Peck recreates the revolutionary struggle of Patrice Lumumba, the newly elected Prime Minister of The Congolese Republic. In the movie, we do not see much of the independence struggle against the Belgian government, but we begin to see the reconstruction of the African state in African hands. While no one ever claimed that decolonization was easy, maybe this particular example can best be explained by Fanon’s simplified little quip “decolonization is always a violent phenomenon. ” In this paper, I will seek to locate where this post-colonial violence is located in discourses regarding race, class and gender. Particularly, I will look at the representations of race and class, and the lack of the representation of gender, in order to draw conclusions about the nature of representation and the effects this has on anti-colonial film.
Embittered by his experience in the French Army, where Africans and Arabs answered to white superiors and West Indians occupied an ambiguous middle ground, he gravitated to radical politics, Sartrean existentialism and the philosophy of black consciousness known as négritude (Djemai). Négritude is the affirmation or consciousness of the value of black or African culture, heritage, and identity (dictionary). Fanon also fell under the influence of Tosquelles, an innovative practitioner of group therapy. Applying Tosquelles 's methods at a hospital in a suburb of Algiers, where Fanon arrived in 1953, he earned the trust of Arab patients whom French psychiatrists had treated with a mixture of pity and contempt (Macey). In Fanon 's new home, Macey reminds us, one million Europeans ruled over some nine million Arabs and Berbers, largely illiterate and cruelly exploited. After the Algerian National Liberation Front launched a revolution in 1954, the French Army used Gestapo tactics to restore order. Suspects were given electric shocks to the testicles, raped with bottles and often beaten to death. Entire villages were destroyed in retaliation for the death of a single soldier. While secretly aiding the rebels, Fanon cared for victims and perpetrators alike, producing case notes that shed invaluable light on the psychic traumas of colonial war
Sometimes reading fiction not only makes us pleasure but also brings many knowledge about history and philosophy of life. ‘The Guest’ by the French writer Albert Camus is a short story and reflects the political situation in French North Africa in 1950s. According to this story, we know the issues between the France and the Arab in Algeria, and the protagonist, Daru, refuses to take sides in the colonial conflict in Algeria. This is not a boring story, because Camus uses a suspenseful way to show the character, conflicts and symbol and irony.