Any act of pure perception is a feat, and if you don't believe it, try it sometime.I finally got around to watching Battle of Algiers, Pontecorvo's documentary-style movie about the urban phase of Algeria's war for independence, and it's as brilliant as I had heard.
--Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men
When I described it to my son (before seeing it, based on what I had read), he asked me which side the film takes. The beauty of the film is that it doesn't take sides as such; Pontecorvo's politics are undeniably leftish, but he doesn't overtly impose his worldview. The insurgents are not whitewashed (some of the measures taken by the NLF are hard to stomach, especially looking back from today's perspective), and the French are not monsters (as Colonel Mathieu points out to the press, these are the soldiers who fought Nazi Germany). Regardless of Pontecorvo's political leanings, he was able to see. The result is probably the clearest view of insurgency and counter-insurgency ever committed to film, an act of pure perception. We draw our own conclusions.
Plenty of other people have already written about its relevance to current events. I won't go into that; better to see the movie, which is better than anything I could say about it. I'll just quote one line, from Colonel Mathieu, at a press conference where he is asked about torture:
Should we remain in Algeria? If you answer "yes," then you must accept all the necessary consequences.Draw your own conclusions.
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