Lately, I’ve been bitching about the paucity of good film
product in theatres during the winter months. This
has driven me to a DVD store near my digs in West L.A. called
Laser Blazer, which has been acclaimed as having one of
the largest and most eclectic DVD selections in the country.
Imagine my surprise when I stumbled onto a 40 year old Italian-Algerian
film which is not only one of the best foreign films I’ve
ever seen, but one of the best films I’ve ever seen, period.
Let me fill you in on this serendipitous event with a review
of the film:
The
Battle of Algiers: When Italian director
Gillo Pontecorvo’s film premiered in 1965, it stirred a
hornet’s nest of controversy. It deals with a vicious
and ruthless guerilla war spanning the years between 1954-1962,
when Algerian “terrorists” (or if you will, “freedom fighters”)
initiated a “war of liberation” to free themselves from
French colonialism. When the film was initially released,
the French found it so inflammatory they banned it from
their screens for 30 years. At the same time, the
Vietnam War was beginning to escalate, and the film’s parallels
to that conflict are undeniable.
What
attests to the film’s enduring greatness is that it has
even stronger parallels to the current war in Iraq.
This was borne out last year when the film was re-released
on the revival circuit (the film played in L.A. a year ago,
and I could kick myself in the head for missing it; would
have loved to have seen this on a big screen with a crowded
audience) when the Pentagon issued a request for a print
of the film to study terrorist tactics! This is understandable,
because the film is amazingly realistic, looking more like
a documentary than a feature film.
Amazingly,
though,
not one foot of documentary footage was used in the film.
The impression of it being a documentary is due to director
Pontecorvo’s brilliant staging—not only does the film
carry a potent political message for our times, but it’s
one of the most exciting and exhilarating films I’ve ever
seen. Pontercorvo is a genius at staging intense and
violent action scenes, putting himself up there with such
American masters as Sam Peckinpah (Wild Bunch)
and Don Siegel (Dirty Harry).
Another
factor in this film’s greatness is that Pontecorvo is very
even-handed in his depiction of the Algerians and the French,
alternately portraying them as sympathetic and brutal.
The film’s musical score was a collaboration between Pontecorvo
and the great Italian film composer Ennio Morricone (The
Untouchables), and it is pulsating and powerful, adding
much to the film’s impact.
The
Battle of Algiers
is being released on DVD on a three-disc set by Criterion
Films, a company that specializes in the release of excellent
foreign films. While the Pontercorvo film is on the
first disc, on the second is a fascinating documentary on
Pontecorvo himself. He started directing films in
his mid-30s, and seems to have approached directing more
as a hobby than an avocation. His next film after
The Battle of Algiers was Burn!, which
was released four years later in 1969. It
turns out that he
had problems with the films distributor, United Artists,
and the film’s notoriously temperamental star, Marlon Brando.
Apparently because of this, he gave up the ghost, and has
directed few films ever since. It’s a shame because
Pontecorvo has great talent and possibly could have turned
out more fine films. I could say more about this great
three-DVD set, but why should I spoil it? All I have
left to say is, rent this film!—****
The
Battle of Algiers would have been on my earlier
list of favorite foreign films if I had seen it before
I had compiled that list. This reminds me—sometimes,
while in the state of manic intensity under which I pound
these articles out, I tend to omit things. Here are
three more films I would put on my earlier list, which all
come highly recommended:
Alexander
Nevski
(Russian, 1938, Sergei Eisenstein)
Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (French, 1953, Jacques
Tati)
Seven Beauties (Italian, 1976, Lina Wertmuller)
See
ya soon.
Steve
can be reached at steve@babblog.com. |
