An excellent film, but like all films, no substitute for history. It helps to remember that the French won the battle of Algiers, and indeed, had defeated the FLN militarily by 1961. What made Algeria “algerian” was Charles De Gaulle’s decision that France would not support the necessary total integration of Algeria, and more importantly, Algerians, into the French national fabric. The idea of a totally equal Franco-Algerian society had been posited by the Army in 1958, and indeed, part of the reason behind the 13 May 1958 coup was to usher in a national government that could implement such measures. De Gaulle surprised those who brought him to power, but he knew his nation better than the professional Army. He set it on the road to disengagement, and recognition of Algerian independence, whatever the battlefield reality. For a bird’s eye view of this period, see the second part of Jean Pouget’s “Bataillon R.A.S.” (available in French only) p.s. The Lt (Sava) Steppanovitch mentioned in Pouget’s book, and who helped him coordinate this coup, later joined the U.S. Army and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. If still alive, he would make an interesting guest lecturer at the War College.

Sorry, lirelou, my question above probably should have been directed to you.

I have not seen the Criterion Collection, but will check it out. This past summer only proved how wise De Gaulle was. But it was a very bitter pill for those who loved Algeria, especially the Harkis and the old Algerian veterans, to swallow. Germanicus. It is possible, but he only attended Special Forces training. After than he was sent to Vietnam, where he “jumped ship” to serve with old Vietnamese comrades in the ARVN Airborne Division (Advisory Team 162). In 1987 he was the U.S. Army Liaison Officer to the 1st French Corps in Baden-Baden (not far from Lahr). One always wondered who was liaisoning with whom. His fraternal and social connections reached into high levels of the French Staff, as many he had known as lieutenants and captains were by that time generals. The first thing you noticed upon entering his office was a table covered with Dien Bien Phu promotional badges, awarded him by the various French units and military course promotions who recognized his service there with the 13th DBLE.

In a post on ChicagoBoyz I said this about the movie:

In my darker moods, I’d say this is my favorite movie. A semi-documentary about the Algerian revolution against French rule, and the harsh but (initially) effective measures employed by the French to crush the resistance. While the director, Gillo Pontecorvo was a Marxist and sympathetic to the Algerians, he shows the cruelty of their terrorism without blinking, and he shows the hard-handed French as professional soldiers, without rancor or caricature. Unfortunately, the movie is something of a darling of leftists, who talk about how horrible it is that the captured terrorists are being tortured, while never mentioning that they and their comrades are sneaking bombs into public places to murder women and children. The one-sided critical response to this film shows the moral vacancy at the heart of western liberalism, especially of the academic/intellectual variety. Without regard to all that, this is the best movie about terrorism and guerilla warfare that I know of and truly brilliant movie, period. (Oddly, there are very few still images from the movie available on the net. There is however an excellent book, Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers by Franco Solinas, which contains many stills and the full script.)

From this: this post about war movies.

Scooped!

Between ripping off tdaxp and Catholicgauze, does CA have any original posts? :-p

Well, the pollution sucks, but at least there’s always low prices.