Additionally, taking the quote, “So, we need an occasion that will justify an intervention and make it possible. We ourselves must create this occasion. Unless our adversary provides us with one, as it seems to be doing now,” makes one consider further analogies to US involvement in Iraq. The French’s admission of needing to create an “occasion” can be seen as analogous to the U.S. government using the occasion of the 9/11 terror attacks to justify the means to an end.
Officials at The Pentagon, which was hit by American Airlines Flight 77 on September 11, 2001, screened The Battle of Algiers for officers and civilian experts in August of 2003 to consider the ultimate goal of winning the War on Terror in Iraq. The basis for showing the film was that even though its violence is plentiful, its ultimate hope for a peaceful resolution with a democratic charter prevails. However, according to Wikipedia, “The result for both the French in Algeria and the United States in Iraq is the same politico-military trap — that which is militarily advantageous is politically unsustainable, while that which is politically desirable is militarily damaging.”
This, in itself, proves that even after more than forty years, The Battle of Algiers is one of the most relevant films on war and persecution today.
With the Casbah being a key setting in the film, it would be easy to say that “the shareef don’t like it.” But, all kidding aside, The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah” was not only banned by the Ayatollah Khomeini during the Algerian revolution, but also by all U.S. radio stations on the eleventh of September.
Witness The Battle of Algiers. The 1965 film is a serious, professional piece of political cinema and far and away a four-star feature — something even the shareef could take a liking to.
Article comments
1 - Arlo J. Wiley
I had read before that the Pentagon had screened The Battle of Algiers, but I had totally forgotten about it. You've drawn some excellent, eye-opening parallels to the war in Iraq.