MovieChat Forums > La battaglia di Algeri (1967) Discussion > Why so even-handed?

Why so even-handed?

posted 17 years ago by opinionated_girl
34 replies | jump to latest

I just saw this excellent film and was so surprised that Saadi Yacef played his own real-life character (give or take a few details). I found an interesting interview with him:
http://www.indiewire.com/people/people_040112algiers.html

What I found so surprising was that the movie really didn't really demonize the French as much as it could have. I'm wondering if anyone has an opinion on why that would be? It was made just a few years after Algeria became independent, but one would think that Yacef's involvement in the making of the film wouldn't have allowed much sympathy or empathy for the French.

Incidentally, I wish I'd seen this movie before I'd seen "Cache" so I'd have had some context (ok, I admit it's pathetic to get your history lessons from movies, but at least it made me interested in seeing this one).

[–] deideiblueeyez 8 years ago

What makes the film great is the fact that it doesn't lay "blame" on anyone. Bad things occurred on both sides, some arguably justified, some arguably not. A good historical film, in my opinion, is one that simply tells you the facts without telling you who to root for.

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