Plot Of The Battle of Algiers
One of the very best films that no one’s ever heard of, 1966’s The Battle of Algiers charts the struggles of the Algerian War of Independence in the 1950s, when revolutionary cells of freedom fighters began a campaign of guerilla warfare against French colonialists. Because of its incendiary content, the film was banned in France for five years after its release, and was condemned by a number of government officials.The 60s were a time of massive de-colonization around the world, and many have claimed that The Battle of Algiers emerged as a kind of manual for how to conduct urban and guerilla warfare, and it has been said that groups like the Black Panthers and the Irish Republican Army implemented some of the tactics used in the film. The movie’s influence was so far reaching that it has since been used as a teaching tool for counterinsurgency teams, and it was even screened at the Pentagon in 2003 as an example of the problems faced by the U.S. military in Iraq.
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