The Battle of Algiers (film)

The Battle of Algiers
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gillo Pontecorvo
Produced by	Antonio Musu Yacef Saadi
Written by	Gillo Pontecorvo Franco Solinas
Starring	Jean Martin Saadi Yacef Brahim Haggiag Tommaso Neri
Music by	Ennio Morricone Gillo Pontecorvo
Cinematography	Marcello Gatti
Edited by	Mario Morra Mario Serandrei
Distributed by	Rizzoli, Rialto Pictures
Release date	September 8, 1966 (1966-09-08) (Algeria)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	Italy Algeria
Language	Arabic French
Budget	$800,000

The Battle of Algiers (Italian: La battaglia di Algeri; Arabic: معركة الجزائر‎‎; French: La Bataille d'Alger) is a 1966 Italian-Algerian historical CinemaScope war film co-written and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo and starring Jean Martin and Saadi Yacef. It is based on events during the Algerian War (1954–62) against the French government in North Africa; the most prominent being the titular Battle of Algiers, the capital of Algeria. It was shot on location and the film score was composed by Ennio Morricone. The film, which was shot in a Rossellini-inspired newsreel style—in black and white with documentary-type editing—is often associated with Italian neorealism cinema.

The film has been critically celebrated and often taken, by insurgent groups and states alike, as an important commentary on urban guerrilla warfare. It occupies the 48th place on the Critics' Top 250 Films of the 2012 Sight & Sound poll as well as 120th place on Empire magazine's list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.

Algeria gained independence from the French, a matter which Pontecorvo portrays in the film's epilogue. The film concentrates on the years between 1954 and 1957 when the guerrilla fighters regrouped and expanded into the Casbah, the citadel of Algiers, which was met by French paratroopers attempting to regain territory. The highly dramatic film is about the organization of a guerrilla movement and the illegal methods used by the colonial power to contain it.