Gillo Pontecorvo uses realism to portray the events of the Battle of Algiers in a newsreel type fashion. The documentary style filming used here shows things in what we think is in inside look at the struggle against the French colonists, although we are still watching a scripted film. By using realism in such a graphic film it is hard to detach yourself from it.
The Algerian point of view is conveyed pretty clearly throughout the film. The scenes show a lot of very ordinary looking people as well as important leaders and we get a panoramic view of the Algerian population and citizens. By showing us the massive amounts of people protesting in tandem with scenes of regular Algerian city living, we feel a connection to the even nameless characters with the notion that they are the “everyman.”
Fanon’s discussion of what self determination means to the oppressed is illustrated in this film. The Algerians begin to have revolutionary cells within the Casbah and a war for independence breaks out. Fanon uses the idea of De Facto versus De jure styles of power. The whole idea that countries are set up in a European Governmental system gives the Colonial rulers De Facto power even when they are no longer the dominating leaders by law. By using violence and pure revolution as forms of self determination, the colonized are refusing to sit at the debate table and argue something that has been pre-structured. Although the Algerians “lost” this battle in terms of what happened to the FLN in this course of war, the French were ultimately pushed out of Algeria. Thus proving what Fanon says about Self determination as a whole.
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I agree that a movie like this is very hard to detach yourself from for a number of reasons including your examples of all the nameless characters who could represent anyone and documentary style of film making. Perhaps this is because it is based on a real event that we find ourselves so attached to this to begin with.
The movie is done so well that while it is not a documentary it almost reads out like one because you while you are attached to the subject, its tough (at least for me) to attach myself to a "side". I get to see both the FLN and the French in opposition to each other without favoring either side.
The French were indeed pushed out and the Algerians triumphant. Maybe the real test of what was right and merited is how Algeria turned out AFTER the revolution when the revolutionaries were running the place... (maybe I should have looked this up before I said anything) I think one of the characters actually says something to that effect - how the hardest part of the revolution is after the revolution is over.
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