This short commentary considers an excerpt from Pontecorvo's 1966 film The Battle of Algiers, a film that captures the year-long struggle between the National Liberation (FLN) and the French. colonial powers for control of the Algerian capital occupied and installed by the French between 1956 and 1957. It was this battle which ultimately precipitated Algerian independence in 1962. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay Algeria was a French colony since 1830 and at the time of the Battle of Algiers, all was not well in Algeria - the opposing principles of Algerian nationalism were opposed to the principles of French colonialism and French opinions on Algeria were also divided at this time. Mitterrand's assertion in 1954 that "Algeria is France" and aspirations to view the Mediterranean not as a division between countries but as "the Seine runs through Paris" were sentiments that not everyone not shared in France. The FLN was created in 1954. Algeria in 1954 with “the objective […] of achieving a political victory. It was a resolute strategy that recognized that votes in favor of the United Nations would be even more important than military success. " This led the FLN to seek "unity at all costs, seeking strict surveillance and control of the behavior of its people." It is in this context that we meet the (anti?)-hero of the film, Ali le Pointe, a party guerrilla. FLN later died at the age of 27 in a house destroyed by the French army after refusing to surrender at the end of the battle. This excerpt opens with Ali le Pointe in conversation with Saari Nader. Here emerges one of the key themes of the extract, that of the moral corruption of Algerians by the French colonists "there are still too many drunks, whores, drug addicts", "real enemies" and the need to “conquer them or eliminate them”. ". This scene filmed in the dark also sets the tone for the way in which the FLN will be presented throughout the extract; the dark and clandestine nature of their work is embodied through this style of filming. Ali le Pointe is presented as a man with a job to do. He moves quickly and occupies a powerful position in the frame - he is often in the center of the shot, standing tall and given extra gravity thanks to the cape he wears. As he travels through the Casbah, we understand the respect he inspires: he is known to all his interlocutors and he does not need to use his name: “tell him I am looking for him” is enough. Ali le Pointe embodies the stated ambitions of the FLN and the ambition to clean up the Casbah: he casts a disgusted look at the sex workers in the narrow streets, he becomes a vigilante when he meets a contact who smokes drugs and he does not hesitate to shoot down an old friend who refuses to join the rebels. Interestingly, even though acculturation levels in Algeria were low, Ali le Pointe could happily converse in French with the owner of a brothel – part of the problem the FLN sought to clean up. A useful comparison could be made between the depiction of the Casbah in the Battle of Algiers and the earlier depiction of the same space in an earlier 1937 film Pépé le Moko directed by Julien Duvivier. The Casbah is described as "like a labyrinth", "a teeming anthill", as having "dark and winding streets like so many pitfalls", "a jumble of labyrinths" and "dark and putrid chasms" overcrowded, diverse and populated by barbarians. and sex workers. “A city apart”. It is clearthat the FLN strives to bring greater homogeneity to the space - the Casbah will be a less diverse and morally cleaner place if its work succeeds. At the beginning of the extract, an FLN broadcast affirms its ambition to eradicate the scourge. of the French colonial administration which is, they say, responsible for the “misery and enslavement” of the Algerian people. The FLN begins to act as a government that takes over the role of protector and moral arbiter from the French colonial powers. This scene looks like a news video from the state (a state) with its clearly stated moral position and unequivocal decision to ban all drugs, alcohol and prostitution. The FLN also seems to establish its authority through this segment which declares that “offenders will be punished and repeat offenders sentenced to death”. This highlights the divisions between the FLN and the French and anticipates future tensions between the two divided camps. The noisy attack of the well-organized children (a community closely linked to the action by a whistle) can be read as a metaphor for the rapid organization of the FLN and the eventual fate of the French oppressor. Is it a coincidence that our drunk is wearing such a chic trench coat? Moriccone's discordant and poignant cellos do not suggest otherwise. The divisions between the French, Algeria and the FLN are highlighted in the political and moral commentary as well as in the cinematic presentation of the two sharply opposed architectures of Algiers. The Algerians, it seems, live in the shadow of the Casbah and operate in a particular claustrophobia, while the French settlers, the Pieds-Noirs, inhabit the grand boulevards of the European quarter. In this divided city, the FLN's actions to unify the Casbah become more targeted and more urgent. This was demonstrated successfully in the wedding scene – a scene that brings many of the FLN's stated goals to life. This small, hasty and clandestine wedding takes place in the claustrophobia of the Casbah, in small rooms with high walls of the city-within-the-city. It seems that marriage is a powerful symbol for the inhabitants of the Casbah - although framed by Islamic prayer, the marriage is secular and civil, the bride and groom do not wear the traditional attire but, one could argue, the clothing of the colonizer and the service itself is administered by the FLN and not by the French administration. Even more interesting, this wedding brought together hundreds of people who gathered and lined up on the balconies and walls of the Casbah. It seems that this marriage as a political statement is more significant than the couple's union as a declaration of love. It can be seen as symbolizing the hopes of part of the Algerian people in the embodiment of the declared objectives of the FLN. This marriage is itself “sovereign, democratic and social, within the framework of the principles of Islam” – these words are taken from the 1954 tract mentioned above. Marriage, as an act of war, also serves as an act of unification: “the day will come when we can celebrate our weddings in the open air.” This is perhaps a more acceptable aspect of the unification of the Casbah than the threat that "anyone disobeying Muslim rules of conduct would run the risk of having their throats slit, mutilated or murdered while the FLN established itself as the only nationalist force. ends with a scene shot from the roofs of the Casbah with a long look towards the European Quarter - a distinctly different landscape of wide boulevards, tall buildings, open squares, light and air. This plan projects us into the future, suggesting the struggles to come and perhaps, ultimately, the independence and reintegration of these territories into a)