MovieChat Forums > La battaglia di Algeri (1967) Discussion > This movie was DISGUSTING

This movie was DISGUSTING

posted 14 years ago by Knoxvicious
17 replies | jump to latest

I'm all for freedom and independence, but you don't go about that blowing innocents up, like the FLN DID do.

I was constantly sickended whenever they played the "sad music" when the FLN members got blown up or shot and constantly showed shots of babies and women crying...
But when those three women blew up those buildings? When they FNL shoot randomly at innocents on the street??? No sad music, no people crying, it was just what it was...
WTF????

How is that NOT propaganda???

I don't know, I just don't understand why there isn't any posts like this on here. What the French did was wrong also, but you don't fight the cause by hurting other innocents and involving KIDS in that war...
Why did they glorify what the FLN did?
I just don't understand it....

If you want to show how horrible that situation was, play the sad music on BOTH sides. Wasn't there a little baby eating ice cream in one of the shops an FLN member blew up?

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[–] MrPink4 14 years ago

This movie's objective style was to cover up the fact that it was not objective at all. The director was a heavy Marxist supporter, and it is subtly hidden throughout.

"Oh I'm sorry. Did I break your concentration?"

[–] liutenantsalt 14 years ago

This is the natural result of expecting a Marxist to present an honest and unbiased account of historical events.

[–] jasonbourneagain 13 years ago

Bump.

[–] Mod1911 13 years ago

100% correct.
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[–] Kawada_Kira 12 years ago

You're an idiot.

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[–] olliebivins53 10 years ago

Oh, and people like DW Griffith and the director of Gone With The Wind David O.Selznick gave unbiased views of their subject matter?

[–] olliebivins53 10 years ago

Can you explain the history of Algeria ' s fight for independence from your objective viewpoint?

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 13 years ago

I seem to recall sad music playing when the cafe was blown up by the FLN.

"I may not punish you for treason, but I could slap you for stupidity."

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] franzkabuki 13 years ago

"You don´t fight the cause by hurting other innocents".

You do. As we all saw. And if the film is at its heart still a bit more sympathetic towards the Algerians perhaps... I wonder if you´d also complain when a movie about French resistance during WW2 were more sympathetic towards them than Nazi Germany.

Edit: I´ve read that a certain Francois Truffaut may also have been disgusted as he allegedly walked out when the TBOA was playing in Venice. No indication was however given whether he did that because he was deluded or a wussy or both.

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[–] 08thMSTeamAlex 13 years ago

Jesus christ OP, did you really miss the point that badly?

You must've missed the extreme parallels going on in the narrative, because believe it or not, there was sad music played for casualities of both sides. You're a moron if you think this film glorifies terrorism, it is completely meant to do the opposite. It does so by making both sides, French and Algerian, sympathetic, human, and ultimately evil. Did you also miss how the French bombed the Casbah FIRST?? Not to mention that these are historical events and the filmmaker is not interested in any political propaganda.

If I was to guess, you're probably either subconciously biased against Arabs, (or fully conscious, who knows) or you're completely white, western, and ignorant of other cultures. At least that's how it comes off when you completely bash such an incredible movie. You clearly watched this movie with tunnel vision.

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[–] PoppyTransfusion 13 years ago

OP in future be sure to watch a film more carefully, or better yet more than once so that your comments are accurate about the film. As another has said the use of 'sad' music was confined to two scenes in which innocents were killed by each side: the French police bomb in the Kasbah that destroyed several building killing people as they slept and the Algerian bombs that went off in quick succession at the cafe - the dancing bar (cue the music)- and the Air France offices.

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[–] jd-276 12 years ago

Yeah, actually, this film is far from disgusting.

It's really easy to criticise it because it dares explore both sides.

What the O.P. doesn't get is that to fully understand a situation like this, you need to explore the motives of both sides. Unfortunately, for many people that means appearing to be soft on the "bad guys".

There is a world of difference between seeing things from someone else's point of view and taking their side. The film does not ask you to do that.

Conversely, there is little point in arguing about who started it. That will vary from day to day, according to who committed the latest atrocity.

The point of this film is what Col Mathieu says: the FLN wants France out of Algeria. France wishes to stay. Everything is subordinate to that.

To go into a pseudo-moral tailspin of outrage over the murder of innocents on one side is ludicrous. To understand how to prevail in a situation like that requires fine judgement and considerable understanding. You don't get that by reacting. Without knowing the other side's motives - and let's face it: we always think we know* - you cannot know how to best resolve such a conflict.

*We usually believe them to be barbaric and without morality. We don't bother to analyse it any further.

[–] lola_mento 11 years ago

If you get this worked up over a movie then I don't want to imagine how do you react when you read about what the government and American army do overseas...