Gillo Pontecorvo
1966
121 minutes
This is an Italian film that everyone seems to assume is a French film about the Battle of Algiers, which loomed large in the recent colonialism history of the country. The film is mostly from the point of view of the Algerians, who are fighting for the freedom of their country but also taking to desperate measures like bombings aimed at civilians that most people would consider terrorism. It also follows some of the French troops who were assigned to the country, who resorted to awful measures like torture to try to break up the Algerian resistance.
Actually visiting Paris drove home how relatively recent this conflict was and the fact that there are still some old geezers left who remember it and participated in it and how large it looms in people's consciousness. You got caught off guard by a few parades to celebrate veterans that seemed suspiciously right-wing and appeared to be glorifying the brave paratroopers that fought on the side of the "good guys" in this conflict. They gave you the creeps and you didn't want to get close enough to them to hear what exactly they were chanting and what was printed on their signs. You simply tolerated the mercifully brief street closures and interruptions to Metro service and slunk away without trying to make too much sense of it.
Time to choose something different: