VAN' VDO. ONLINE
		Criterion Collection
home / collection
	The Battle Of Algiers (Criterion Collection)(3 disc)     Written, Composed Music and Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo Algeria-Italy 1966 / Docudrama / Political / 125 min / B&W / Monaural / 1.85: 1  Widescreen Anamorphic / NTSC /  In French & Arabic with Optional English Subtitles Brahim Haggiag, Yacef Saadi , Jean Martin , Tommaso Neri, Fawzia el Kader , Michele Kerbash One of the most influential political films in history, Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (La bataille d’Alger) vividly recreates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in caf้s, and French soldiers resort to torture to break the will of the insurgents. Shot in the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film is a case study in modern warfare, with its terrorist attacks and the brutal techniques used to combat them. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Gillo Pontecorvo’s tour de force—a film with astonishing relevance today.

Bonus Features:

DISC 1: THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS
New high-definition digital transfer, enhanced for widescreen televisions
Production gallery
Theatrical and re-release trailers
New and improved English subtitle translation

DISC 2: PONTECORVO AND THE FILM
Gillo Pontecorvo: The Dictatorship of Truth (1992): a 37-minute documentary, narrated by literary critic Edward Said
Exclusive 51-minute documentary on the making of The Battle of Algiers, featuring new interviews with the director, cinematographer, composer, editor, actors, and film historians
Five Directors (17 mins., 2004): Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Julian Schnabel, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone on the film’s influence, style, and importance

DISC 3: THE FILM AND HISTORY
Remembering History (69 mins., 2004): an exclusive documentary that reconstructs the Algerian experience of the battle for independence, featuring interviews with historians and revolutionaries, including military leader Saadi Yacef
“ษtats d’armes” (2002): a 28-minute documentary excerpt featuring senior French military officers recalling the use of torture and execution to combat the rebellion
The Battle of Algiers: A Case Study (25 mins., 2004): Richard A. Clarke, former national counterterrorism coordinator and author of Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror, discusses the film’s relevance with Michael A. Sheehan, former State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, in a conversation moderated by Christopher E. Isham, chief of investigative projects for ABC News
Gillo Pontecorvo’s Return to Algiers (58 mins., 1992): the filmmaker revisits the Algerian people after three decades of independence