Pontecorvo: The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Let me open today’s entry with an unsettling account of a freed Algeria in the 1970–80s: an Algerian lady was kidnapped from Montreal in Quebec, Canada by her brother, and was then trapped in a village in the newly liberated country, just free from the yoke of colonialism. The reason for this kidnapping was that the lady was married to a non-muslim French man, so the marriage was not blessed or approved by the bride’s family; the lady’s friends in Montreal, meanwhile, believed that the brother kidnapped his own blood so that she may marry an Algerian muslim. Both areas were and are still inhabited by francophones, and are former French colonies.
Why so were these post-colonial states fare differently in the course of time? The time that this film was re-released in 2004 might have given us some insight. It was after the 9/11 attack that the Pentagon decided to show it again in public — probably as a totem pole about their war against Islamic terrorism. Regardless of the Pentagon’s political motives, simply by taking the film on its own the notion of terrorism and religion was intwined within the context of the film; it is not an understatement to say that it is the actor that puts the plot in motion. However, it is to some extent ambiguous as to the positioning of the film, on whether it was just about inspiring sympathy for the insurgents, or more ambitiously to justify what they have done.
I don’t really have much judgement here because this kind of issues are not within my knowledge base, although I would like to draw your attention to two scenes that I think are rather important both as a parallel to each other and as a turning point in the film.
Around a quarter of the film there was this bunch of French-speaking, white, rich and powerful men (as seen from their power to bypass curfew after flashing a passport and the posh car they drove) that had one of their kinsmen to drop a bomb in front of a house in the muslim quarters. The bomb, without much doubt, produced widespread grief with devastating damage and casualties. After that there were three ladies shown brushing their hair and changing from modest muslim dress to Westernized clothing — all three of them later seen carrying heavy bags and went to places where many civilians gathered like the pub and the airport, dropping these bags off casually, and off it went exploding. Were it not for the first bomb, the three ladies probably wouldn’t have to drop three more indiscriminately. However, it is these huge casualties in the three bombing sites that the colonial government decided to mobilize their strongest military forces that unleashed a series of crackdowns, torture, and execution of the insurgents. While giving a window into their perspective might inspire sympathy, I do believe that this sequence also makes us wonder if oppression is the right way to go at many occasions.
On an ending note, here is a poem that stroke me hard when I was reading it few years back, also about terrorism and indiscriminate bombings.
A Brown Paper Carrierbag — Roger McGough
IN THE TIME…
a spider’s web woven across
the plateglass window shivers snaps
and sends a shimmering haze of lethal stars
across the crowded restaurant
IN THE TIME IT TAKES…
jigsaw pieces of shrapnel
glide gently towards children
tucking in to the warm flesh
a terrible hunger sated
IN THE TIME IT TAKES TO PUT DOWN…
on the pavement
people come apart slowly
at first
only the dead not screaming
IN THE TIME IT TAKES TO PUT DOWN
A BROWN PAPER CARRIERBAG.
Cite as: Bachmanov, G. (July 23, 2023). Pontecorvo: The Battle of Algiers (1966). Opera of the Day. https://operaoftheday.medium.com/%EF%B8%8F-pontecorvo-the-battle-of-algiers-1966-f1fab5ab60e8
