In the 1950s, Algeria was going through a tense
climate of struggle to regain its national identity and independence. The
French occupation of Algeria
became a theater that showed the world a larger-than-life political, racial,
and moral warfare between two nations on opposite sides of religious, economic,
and class spectrum. While it would be fallacious to say that there are no gray
areas, the polarities between the colonizers and the colonized that highlighted
the times are arguably pervasive, thus giving birth to emphatic works of art
reflective of the immediate conditions during this period. La Bataille d’Algiers, co-produced by Casbah Films (Algiers ) and Igor Films (Rome ) in 1966, is an example of such ouvre d’arte.
La Bataille
d’Algiers, the first big Algerian production, is an original story
idea by Saadi Yacef, a former member of the Front
de Libération Nationale (FLN). During the time of the occupation, Yacef was
imprisoned for going against the French colonizers. His ideas and experiences
during this era were put into screenplay by Gillo Pontecorvo and FrancoSolinas. The movie received multiple prestigious awards including the Lion D’Or
at the Venice International Film Festival in 1966 and the Grand Prize in the
International Film Critics Award in the same year.
The relevance of this film goes far beyond winning accolades
and critical praises. For one, it became
a staple in most film studies classes throughout the world. It is very unlikely
to find a film scholar who has not heard of
La Bataille d’Algiers. The
popularity of this film is not only limited to film academicians and cinephiles.
Anti-military movements adopt strategies from this movie. Warfare and military experts
have been known to refer back to this film. Human rights groups screen this
movie over and over again to remind people of the atrocities of state
apparatuses.
La Bataille
d’Algiers is a cinematic masterpiece
with a touch of cinema verité that demonstrates the pronounced polarities present
in the French-Algerian conflict. Through the narrative and the mise-en-scene, the movie takes its
audience in the middle of the action and allows them to have a unique
experience similar to the ones experienced by the observers lingering around
the actual locations of the events. In a way, Pontecorvo takes his audience,
and still continues to do so, to the harrowing struggle between the colonizers
and the colonized—the aggressors and the victims. While there are many scenes in the movie that
show this dichotomy, the ones that stand out to me are the contrasting scenes
in the presentation of the antagonist and the protagonist—Ali La Pointe (BrahimHaggiag, a.k.a. Brahim Hadjadj) and Colonel Matthieu (Jean Martin).
After the initial montage in media res recounting
the pivotal turn of events that led to the capture of La Pointe and the demise
of the FLN, the former is introduced with a close-up of his face blurring as it
surrenders to an establishing shot of the European Quarter. The camera executes
a long shot of the area to show the cleanliness and tranquility of its
perimeters. Relatively new buildings
abound in this area. After briefly showing the European Quarter, the camera pans
to Casbah. Slowly, the camera zooms in to render a more detailed contrast between
the two areas. Following a medium shot
of Casbah, the camera cuts to its crowded streets riddled with commoners and
peddlers, showing the daily chaotic lives of the people. The European Quarter
is the area in Algiers
mostly inhabited by the French colonizers while the Casbah is the area where
the Algerians, in their impoverished state, are clustered together.
As Pontecorvo takes the audience to the streets of Casbah,
the narrator reads the first communiqué
from the FLN, thus establishing the fact that this part of Algiers is the home
of what the French deems to be the dangerous, the anti-establishment, and the savage—one
that needs control and domination. In effect, this scene also draws a line that
separates the physical, ideological, and moral spheres between the French and the
Algerians. The placement of the barbwires and checkpoints between Casbah and
the European Quarter further reinforces this point. The spatial and conceptual
contrasts between the Algerians (embodied by La Pointe) and the French
(represented by Matthieu) are suggested many times in the movie.
The story of La
Bataille d’Algiers revolves around La Pointe and his transformation
from being an ordinary citizen to becoming the face of Algerian rebellion. La Pointe is a common man, and just like many
of his counterparts, he hustles and bustles in the streets of Casbah for
survival. On occasions, he steals and at times, he gambles. Racism is very prevalent during this time and
just like everyone else, he often gets subjected to it. One day, while La
Pointe was dealing cards in a gambling game in one street corner, a French
woman reports him to a police officer. La Pointe runs away and passes through a
group of French bystanders gathered on the side of the road. One of the French men,
also referred to as the pied noirs by historians, deliberately
trips him and knocks him to the ground.
La Pointe, instead of continuing to run, decides to stand up
and confronts the man who attacked him. The camera briefly shows the police approaching La Pointe before cutting to him hitting his assailant. This deliberate focus of the camera makes it clear
that La Pointe is acutely aware of the risk of being caught, yet he
conscientiously makes a choice to stand up for his dignity. The police officer,
with the assistance of other cops who follow as reinforcements, catches La
Pointe. The rest of the French in the crowd join forces together in attacking
the latter. La Pointe takes the blows valiantly—a crucial and emphatic scene demonstrative
of his resilience, self-respect, and valor.
As the police officers take La Pointe, the narrator recites
his “resumé of offenses” that sounds typical of a common criminal’s background.
While the police escorts him, the narrator states:
“Omar Ali … Alias Ali La Pointe … Born January 15, 1930, in Miliana
… Illiterate. Occupation: laborer,
bricklayer, boxer … Currently unemployed.
Military status: draft dodger … 1942, Algiers Juvenile Court, one year
in reformatory for vandalism … 1944, Oran Juvenile Court, two years for
disorderly conduct … 1949, Court of Algiers, eight-month prison term for
insulting a police officer on duty.”
The French crowd who ganged up on La Pointe follows him to
harass him even further. While the narrator speaks, the diegetic voice of the people mocking
him becomes inaudible. However, when one of the French men harassing him spits
on him from behind, the diegetic sound of the spit is heard, thus
emphasizing the act of degradation inflicted on him. This event demonstrates
the extent by which Algerians are treated with disrespect in their own land by
the French colonizers. It is also interesting to note how the narrator
emphasizes that La Pointe is a draft-dodger. This fact strongly contrasts with
Colonel Mathieu’s relationship with the military. Again, La Pointe,
representing Algeria ,
exhibits anti-authoritarian proclivities while Mathieu, representing France , is
symbolic of the colonizers’ unwavering authoritarian posture. La Pointe is sent
to prison and while there, he is thrown in the company of men who have very strong
anti-colonial sentiments. It is at this place where he begins to cultivate a
strong extremist political and moral conviction.
The scene introducing La Pointe, when contrasted with the scene
introducing Mathieu, highlights the extent of the dichotomy between the opposing
factions in the movie. The introduction of La Pointe as just another common
criminal is very important because later in the movie, he gets transformed
into a radical extremist, killing people whom his newly-found FLN ideology and
renewed Islam faith consider as personae
non gratae such as prostitutes, alcoholics, and druggies. It is also
important to note that while we are introduced to La Pointe running away from
the law, Mathieu was later introduced arriving in Algiers to impose the law. In a later part of the movie, the narrator
introduces Mathieu in a similar style as when La Pointe was introduced—that is,
while walking on the streets, the narrator recites his background. The difference, however, is that in the introduction
of La Pointe, he is escorted by the authorities as a criminal. In the
introduction of Mathieu, he walks in glory ushered in by a welcome parade as his
cohort of military men follows him. As Mathieu marches, the narrator recites a
litany of his personal and military achievements:
“Mathieu, Philippe. Born August 5, 1907, in Bordeaux .
Rank: lieutenant colonel. Campaigns:
Italy and Normandy . Member of an anti-Nazi resistance
movement. Expeditions: Madagascar
and Suez . Wars:
Indochina and Algeria .”
The similarity in visual presentation (walking down the
streets) where the narrator introduces La Pointe and Mathieu, complemented by
variances in camera angles and sound, all the more highlights the contrasts
between them—the good and the bad; the military man and the criminal; the
educated and the illiterate, the high-ranking military officer and the draft
dodger. As La Pointe walks down the streets, a melancholy music that seems to
emphasize his pitiful state lingers. Mathieu, on the other hand, is accompanied
with bugles and drums and a diegetic sound of a cheering crowd. While the
camera shows La Pointe in close-up as he is escorted by the cops thus
highlighting the bitterness and anger in his expression, the camera gives
Mathieu a combination of full shots, medium shots and close-ups, allowing the
audience to scrutinize him in full military glory while he proudly walks on the
streets in a dignified posture. Indeed, the strategic angles and foci of the
camera provoke the audience to make a comparison of these two characters and to
study their obvious differences.
David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson in their book Film
Art: An Introduction note that
acting is part of mise-en-scene and
is also often approached as a question of realism (133). On this note, one can
go a bit further and argue that in light of realism, the director’s choices of
actors then also becomes part of the mise-en-scene. In this regard, one should
consider the extent by which Pontecorvo attempts to be realistic. In this film,
with the exception of stage veteran Jean Martin, he mostly casts non-actors, a
majority of which has ties with the FLN. Yacef , the former FLN rebel who wrote
the book that inspired the movie, even plays the role of the leader of the guerilla
group in the movie. Another strategy
that Pontecorvo employs is the use of intertitles in defining the sections of
the film. This, in a sense, gives the film a touch of documentary style—one
that is known to represent reality.
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