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A Historian's Guide to The Battle of Algiers

Pontecorvo and Saadi Yacef's now-classic film debuted 60 years ago this August. Here's everything you need to know about it.

By Marianne Dhenin
A black-and-white still from the film, showing three young adults and one child in a cramped space.
Mahmoud, Hassiba, Little Omar, and Ali La Pointe hide out during The Battle of Algiers.
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This Monday marked the sixtieth anniversary of the debut of Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo and Algerian rebel leader Saadi Yacef’s now-classic 1966 film, The Battle of Algiers. Those who know me know this is one of my most beloved films, and I often joke that I should apply for more teaching jobs just so that I might have a chance to assign it to students again.

Actually, I was a student when I first came across the film, tucked away in a long list of optional resources for a class on decolonization. It was one of the many books, songs, and films that shaped my thinking about the region most Americans call the Middle East and set me on a path toward earning a Ph.D. in its modern history several years later.

Whether you haven’t yet seen The Battle of Algiers or (like me) are gearing up to watch it for the umpteenth time to mark the anniversary, this week’s newsletter features a spoiler-free viewing guide packed with historical context that I’ve learned in the years I’ve spent as both an academic and a journalist researching and writing about the region. You’ll find the film on most streaming platforms, and I’ll be hosting a film-related event for subscribers soon — stay tuned!

But before I get into that, here are a couple of other things I’ve enjoyed (re)visiting this week that make great companions to the film:

Tomorrow They Won’t Dare to Murder Us: A Novel
Lyrical and radical, a debut novel that created a sensation in FranceWinner of the Prix Goncourt for first novel, one of the most prestigious literary awards in FranceA young revolutionary plants a bomb in a factory on the outskirts of Algiers during the Algerian War. The bomb is timed to explode after work hours, so no one will be hurt. But the authorities have been watching. He is caught, the bomb is defused, and he is tortured, tried in a day, condemned to death, and thrown into a cell to await the guillotine. A routine event, perhaps, in a brutal conflict that ended the lives of more than a million Muslim Algerians.But what if the militant is a “pied-noir”? What if his lover was a member of the French Resistance? What happens to a “European” who chooses the side of anti-colonialism?By turns lyrical, meditative, and heart-stoppingly suspenseful, this novel by Joseph Andras, based on a true story, was a literary and political sensation in France, winning the Prix Goncourt for First Novel and being acclaimed by Le Monde as “vibrantly lyrical and somber” and by the journal La Croix as a “masterpiece”.
Verso FictionJoseph Andras and Simon Leser

This is one of my favorite-ever novels! It tells the story of a "pied-noir" (a person of European descent, born in colonized Algeria) who supported the Algerian resistance. Use this affiliate link to support me and indie bookshops with your purchase.

Issue One
The first transatlantic radio signal ever received hit an antenna attached to a kite attached to a wire attached to a tower on top of Signal Hill, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada on December 12th, 1901. It said “S” in Morse Code (“dot dot dot”).
Signal HillSignal Hill

The audio feature "A Porous Place" in Signal Hill's first issue is a beautiful account of how a small French farming town grapples (and fails to grapple) with the history of a local military installation that served as an internment camp during the Algerian War.

Now here’s everything you didn’t know you needed to know about The Battle of Algiers:

🎞️ What is The Battle of Algiers? 

Saadi Yacef headed the armed wing of the nationalist Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) in Algiers until his capture in 1957. The FLN fought for Algeria’s independence from France in the Algerian War of 1954 to 1962. While in jail, Saadi Yacef made an account of the struggle. Then, when the war ended, he set off for Italy in search of a director to bring the story to the silver screen. A partnership with Pontecorvo led to The Battle of Algiers. Saadi Yacef also stars in the film as Commander El-Hadi Jafar, a character modeled on his own experiences.

The documentary-style production follows the major events of a roughly three-year period when Algiers was under French military rule, one of the most well-known and bloodiest periods of Algeria’s anti-colonial struggle. Algeria won its independence in 1962, over 130 years after the French began colonizing the territory in 1830. The film debuted at the Venice Film Festival in 1966, only four years later, where it won the festival’s highest prize, the Golden Lion. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.