This was the first official outing of the SYNW film club and we swam out of the safe confines of the pond into the unfamiliar territory of waters new.
The battle of Algiers was a film that until this point I was unfamiliar with but would now certainly rank it within my top 10 films ever ! High praise indeed.
Allow me to elaborate:
Made in 1966 it chronicles the period between 1954 - 1962 during the Algerian war of independence against French rule. I read a review which described it as
‘A film commissioned by the Algerian government that shows the Algerian revolution from both sides A surprisingly unbiased account of the bloodiest revolution in modern history which has once again become relevant. A look at war as a nasty thing that harms and sullies everyone who participates in it.’
This just about sums it up better than any words I could provide, and I was struck by how it managed to remain objective with no real heroes or villains, unlike the majority of other films in the ‘war’ genre. Ennio Morricone ( everyones favourite ) composed the soundtrack and according to Corporal Tench ( our resident expert on the BOA ) advised us that he deliberately used the same music for both the French and Algerians but at a slightly different tempo in pursuit of this aim.
As you might imagine - there’s not many laughs to be had but then hey ‘war aint funny man’ and laughter is merely slaughter without the S !
There are some stunning visual moments and the soundtrack is superb. Check out this trailer courtesy of our brethren at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca3M2feqJk8
Captain Haddock
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