The Battle of Algiers/La Battaglia di Algeri (1966) - Revolutionary guerilla revolt as it was

♥♥♥♥♥♥

An original, gritty poster for Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers

QUICK REVIEW:

In a documentarian fashion, (although the film uses no real news footage, and is 100 fabricated, but based on facts), The Battle of Algiers opens up the story of the North-African country in the 50s and start-60s, where grassroots form a guerrilla rebellion against the French colonial occupation.
The dilemmas and human consequences portrayed in Algiers are as relevant today, as they were 50 years ago. - The Pentagon actually arranged a screening of the film as a parallel to the beginning of the second Iraq war in 2003 to inspire informative debate. (The manoeuvre may seem absurd to some, in the light of the following years' bloody war in the country.) And there are still countless Arabian and African countries in or on the brink of revolutions that one could naïvely hope would take some lessons from history as through Algiers.
The film is incredibly realistic and authentic-looking, engaging and exciting while also being terrible to watch. Tragic, as watching great masses of people tangle together in bloody, worsening knots.
The account is a fairly balanced picture of sacrifices and cruelties committed on both parts, and has also been hailed for this distinguishing quality. There is only one professional actor in Algiers, Jean Martin (The Day of the Jackal (1973)), who had been part of the French Resistance during WWII and was dismissed several years before the film production from the Théâtre National Populaire for protesting the Algerian War, - a red-hot topic in France in the 50s and 60s.
The music is a fantastic mix of indigenous drums and compositions by writer-director Gillo Pontecorvo and great Italian composer Ennio Morricone (Cat O'Nine Tails (1971)).
The staging of this extraordinary account of colonial/anti-colonial warfare could not possibly have been accomplished any better. The Battle of Algiers is a unique masterpiece.
It was banned in France for 5 years, and then screened in a cut version. It was Oscar-nominated in 1969 for Best Director and Best screenplay (Pontecorvo and Franco Solinas (Burn! (1969))).
Pontecorvo was born in Pisa, Tuscany, and made other unusual films like Kapò (1960) about a Jewish girl's escape attempt from a concentration camp, and the Marlon Brando-staring Burn! (1969) about a slave revolt. He passed away in 2006.

Here's some stills from the film that convey some of its fierce intensity:

Related post:

Top 10: The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Watch the 2004-re-release trailer and have some glimpses at the truly amazing film here

Budget: 0.8 mil. $
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown

Can you recommend other portrayals of guerrilla warfare and/or revolution?
Share your experience of the film here