The Battle of Algiers

I chose to read review on what the critics said about the film The Battle of Algiers. I could not disagree with the critics more when they rave about how breathtaking they thought this movie was. I would hate to keep bringing up how much I dislike black and white films, but black and white and subtitles combined? Really? Not for me. I guess I wish I understood what was so remarkable about films such as this, but I think it is just way over my head. I'm really not interested in politics either, which is not necessarily a good thing, but I never have been and i'm not sure what my future holds for me in that area. What I thought they did a really well job of would be the way they made the audience feel as though they were a part of the action with the hand-held camera movement. I agreed with Michael Atkinson from Village Voice when he stated:

“Pontecorvo’s fierce piece of 1965 agitprop is suddenly HOT HOT HOT… No movie so effectively squeezes you into the shoes of grassroots combatants…ASTONISHLY
TIMELY AND AN ELECTION YEAR MUST-SEE!”– Michael Atkinson, Village Voice

I think that this aspect of the film helped grasp the audience's attention and during theses action scenes I found myselft pretty engaged in the film, but at other times not so much.