Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

This was one of those 'must-see' classics I have forever been putting off, mainly because I thought it might make for grim viewing.   And yes, the subject-matter, Algeria's fight for independence from France, is no laughing matter, but there's always something rather exhilarating about watching a film that's as good as this one.   The Battle of Algiers turns out not to have been some massive street combat as I had imagined, but a series of terrorist attacks and reprisals over a period of twelve months in 1956-57.   The film mainly concentrates on this period although it also contains some footage relating to before and after.  Footage is an apt word because the director, Gillo Pontecorvo, pulls out all the stops to make us think we are watching archival material. Black-and-white photography, non-professional actors, documentary-style captions, a newsreel style - they’re all here. The two main protagonists are Ali la Pointe (a real person) who was one o...