esrosedotblog

MOCK DOC

Here come the paratroopers into Algiers to fuck things up irretrievably. Just the usual. The paratroops fucked up the situation covered in Bloody Sunday the film that we watched the other day. And I am sure that they are fucking up a situation somewhere in the world today. The drop in boys have their function but messing with the indigenous population is not it. They are hard hard hard and over-the-top is normal.

In this case, it is decided that the FLN's back can only be broken by killing the head of the organization. Since the org is a triad design, this is pretty tough. (each person recruits two people so s/he only knows the recruiter and the two recruits. The paratroopers come in to carry out the mission. The strategy is to grab people off the streets and question them to fill in the organization chart. Of course, it is understood that they will not talk so you stimulate their cooperation. You have to torture one hell of a lot of people. But, the troopers can do the job. And they do.

The Battle of Algiers (1965) is shot on the streets of Algiers with a cast of thousands. It is extraordinarily real and I am still skeptical of the claim that no news clips are used. Yet, there it is. The film uses the device of following some people into the FLN and covers a year of their activities. It is no secret that they lost the battle but won the war.

Some of the torture stuff is Grand Guignol level blood and guts so you might need a few eye averts. The bombings are so realistic; people are seen having buildings fall on them. So it is a tough watch. But somehow the thrust is maintained and it does not wallow in any of this.

This film is a re-release. It had fallen into obscurity until Rialto Pictures obtained rights and refurbished it. The DVD is just released and is digitally mastered by the superb Criterion people.

It is one of the NYTimes Best 1176Films and I am going to give it a Netflix 5 out of 5.

OK. It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway. This film depicts events in 1957. Almost fifty years later, we are doing the same thing, or worse, that the French did. It is stunning to discover how little nation's and their leaders learn and how irretrievably, stubbornly, stupid the military mind can become.