The Battle of Algiers (1966)
I am not that well informed on this conflict and this film doesn’t provide much of a history lesson as such, though I still think it succeeds in its efforts despite that. You still sense the anger, the injustice, the big societal divide between the people living in the same country. The atrocities on both sides are neither condoned nor condemned, just shown, and filmed in a way that makes it feel like a documentary. Where I think this stands out among similar revolutionary films, is that how it captures a more general mood, movement and opinion from a whole population, rather than individuals. The film does focus on individual characters, but they don’t work as heroes or antagonists as such, but symbolic as a representation of the population as a whole.
Criterion Challenge 2026 - 20. Kathryn Bigelow’s Closet Picks
Rating: 4