Fifty Years of "The Battle of Algiers": Past as Prologue

The Battle of Algiers, a 1966 film that poetically captures Algerian resistance to French colonial occupation, is widely considered one of the greatest political films of all time. With an artistic defiance that matched the boldness of the anticolonial struggles of the time, it was embraced across the political spectrum—from leftist groups like the Black Panther Party and the Palestine Liberation Organization to right—wing juntas in the 1970s and later, the Pentagon in 2003. With a philosop...