The Battle of Algiers

“The Revolt that Stirred the World!”

Ali La Pointe (Brahim Hadjadj), a petty criminal, is pulled into the Front de Libération Nationale and ends up directing a guerrilla campaign against French rule in Algiers. Colonel Mathieu (Jean Martin), a paratrooper who fought in World War II and Indochina, is sent to put the uprising down. Gillo Pontecorvo shot it in black and white with mostly non-professional actors, and the footage looks like a newsreel.