7:30am PST - Battle Of Algiers, The (1965) – Algiers revolts against the French Foreign Legion. Cast: Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Brahim Haggiag, Tommaso Neri Dir: Gillo Pontecorvo BW-121 mins, TV-14

I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve never seen this. I have seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion and C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate, but somehow this one got past me.

Good thing, then, we have our own Robert Avrech, who wrote a masterful two-part deconstruction of the film just last month titled, “Learning From the Real Battle of Algiers.” Here’s the opener: (more…)

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Intertitle: Movies Are a Moral Landscape

The Battle of Algiers, (1965) directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, a perennial favorite on college campuses, is hailed as a modern classic. Certainly the skillful use of black & white cinema verite is highly effective, making the viewer feel as if he’s been plunged into the heart of the Algerian maelstrom. The scenes of torture and terror are stomach churning and bring chills to any civilized viewer.

But let’s be clear, the film is a work of leftist propaganda, beautifully crafted, to be sure, but a film that seeks to justify Islamic terror by proposing that the French were so brutal that the Algerians had no choice but to resort to unrestrained terror.

Sound familiar?

You better believe it.

When homicide terrorists first struck in Israel, spokesmen for Fatah, Hamas, Hizbullah and the slick terrorist network, Al Jazeera, immediately claimed that the, ahem, powerless Palestinians, had no choice against the brutal and inhuman Israelis.

In short, Jewish victims—the murdered, the maimed and the psychologically broken—were blamed for the bloody Islamic atrocities.

(more…)