The Battle of Algiers

While in Toronto recently, I saw the film "The Battle of Algiers". This is a great film and has a great history, being the fight of colonial France to hang onto power in Algeria. This is a chapter of history most of us would greet with blank stares, knowing little and caring less about such historical bunkum.

I also saw Jean-Luc Godard's "Contempt" which title must explain the director's attitude to the audience, for it took the concept of boredom to new heights. Even the presence of Brigitte Bardot could not save it. Even the presence of Fritz Lang could not save it. It was evocative of Fellini's "8 1/2" . But it was "8 1/2" done by a monk suffering from accidie or terminal ennuie.
Jack Palance was in it. Get the picture?
Fritz Lang seemed to do nothing except say wise old sayings. But we must remember that Lang was a great director, not an actor. This was Godard's homage to Lang, get the old guy out of retirement, slap him into a poorly written film that had no plot, shoot the damn thing and slip out of town. Now, what does the film "The Battle of Algiers", dealing with the confrontation between a western society and a militant society of predominantly Muslim people, have to offer us today by way of insight? I suppose you'll just have to see it.