From the desk of The Movie Snob:

The Battle of Algiers. It is difficult to assign a grade to this 1965 Italian production about the Algerian resistance to their French colonizers in the 1950’s. (I have to believe that this re-release, with brand new English subtitles translating for the French and Arabic dialogue, was precipitated by the current troubles in Iraq.) The film is shot in grainy black-and-white and has a strong documentary feel to it. Mostly the camera follows the activities of a young Algerian named Ali who becomes involved with, and then a leader of, the FLN, or National Liberation Front. To the French, the FLN is a fringe terrorist group; to at least some Algerians, they are freedom fighters. The escalation of violence is portrayed in the most matter-of-fact manner possible, as is the French resort to torture to try to find the leaders of the movement in response to ever-more-violent crimes against the colonists. In an ironic twist, the French colonel in charge of anti-FLN measures, who dispassionately defends the use of torture during interrogations, was himself a member of the French Resistance during WWII. It is an eye-opening look at the world of terrorism from the inside. I was particularly struck by the fact that none of the leaders of the FLN ever cited Islam as an inspiration for their goals or justification for their tactics (at least not that I can recall). A very impressive movie. My fellow movie snob Stacy W. even referred to it afterwards as a “masterpiece,” although she may have been kidding.