Battle of Algiers Viewing Guide

FitzsimmonsEncountersFall 2011

Battle of Algiers Viewing Guide

The film is being shown three times in Maxey Auditorium: Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 7-9. Ideally you will go see the film twice: once before Friday’s class (Wednesday or Thursday) and once before Monday’s class (Sunday), just as you would do reading to prepare. If you have Netflix, the film is currently available for instant watch. For your first screening, read the following questions beforehand and consider them as you watch. After the film, complete the worksheet.

1. In this screening of the film I want you to pay attention to the tactics employed by both sides, and their justificiation for such tactics. When do they change and why? How is each stage of the escalation different from the last? Considering the handout, when do you think the FLN become terrorists? What is the film saying about violence?

1. Consider the role of the press in the film, particularly when they speak with or interview Matthieu. What does he believe their “role” should be? Are they compliant with this? What is the significance of the voice-over and what impact does that have on the film?

1. What “kind” of film is this?

The Algerian War of Independence

The Algerian War of Independence (1954 - 1962) comprised a series of guerilla-strikes, terrorism, counterterrorism, and riots between French army and colonists in Algeria, on the one hand; and, on the other, the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale or “National Liberation Front”) and other pro-independence Algerian groups.

France had a long-standing presence in Algeria: Napoleon invaded Algeria in 1808. After 1830, France began to settle Algeria as a colony, officially making it a département of France in 1848. After a long stretch of weak resistance and evident passivity to colonization, the FLN, which had headquarters in Cairo, emerged as the main source of resistance to French colonialism in Algeria. By 1954, when the FLN started large-scale militancy in Algeria, it was the foremost source of anti-colonial agitation in North Africa (France had already lost the colonies of Tunisia and Morocco). The FLN launched its urban campaign with three bomb strikes in Algiers on September 30, 1956, leading to the

“Battle of Algiers”, which, according to most accounts, was fought most intensely from January to March, 1957.

In February, 1957, the FLN organized a General Strike in Algeria, synchronized with the United Nations debate about the future of Algeria. French troops punished villages that were suspected of harboring rebels during the strike, attacking them with mobile troops or aerial bombardment and gathering 2 million of rural population to concentration camps.

After many in France voiced increasing dissatisfaction with the French colonial resistance in Algeria, Charles De Gaulle showed tentative support for “self-determination” for Algeria in September 1958. He organized a referendum about his new constitution proposal. Despite the FLN’s intimidatory tactics, apparently eighty percent of the Algerian population voted, with ninety-six percent of them supported the new constitution. In February, De Gaulle was elected president of the French Fifth Republic, before a wave of resentment and riots organized by the French civilians and army-units in Algeria, leading to a prolonged debilitation of French colonial power. The French government began talks with the FLN in May 1961. After a peaceful march organized by the FLN in October, 1961, the police killed many (about two hundred) Algerian civilians in Paris, provoking further resistance to French policies in Algeria.

On March 18, 1962, France and Algeria signed an agreement ending the war.

France announced that a cease-fire would begin in March, 1962, and that there would be a French referendum in Algeria. The referendum on July 1, 1962 strongly supported Algerian independence. Algeria won its independence officially on July 3, 1962.