Pontecorvo's The Battle Of Algiers

Mudimbe, Memmi, Fanon, and many of their contemporaries have written about the colonial condition as centered around three main pillars: the domination of the physical space, the psychology of the people, and the political economy of the colony. The three pillars of colonization are all interdependent upon one another; if one falls, so do the rest and rebellion ensues. Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers showcases the French colonization of Algeria and the collapse of their colonial rule over the people. Between 1:15 and 1:20 in The Battle of Algiers, the film represents the degradation and collapse of the French domination of the Algerian psyche through symbolic actions taken by the characters. The domination of the psyche of the colonized

After the officer finishes touting the glory of France, an Algerian boy takes to the microphone to defend the FLN and rally the amassed group of Algerians into cheers for the glory of Algeria. While, the action of renouncing the French propaganda highlights the collapse of French rule over the psyche of the Algerians, Pontecorvo goes even further with the symbolic aspect of it. Importantly, Pontecorvo has a child, a symbol of innocence and moral incorruptibility, denounce the authority of the French. By doing so, Pontecorvo presents to the viewer that the Algerian rebellious attitude does not stem from simply an isolated group interested in freedom, but instead derives from a collective Algerian break from the colonizer/colonized attitude that the colonized are subhuman and incapable of self rule. While the Algerian child defiantly empowering the herd of Algerians to the FLN cause represents a pivotal moment in the shift of the Algerian psychological state, the scene directly following further the notion that the Algerians have seen through their false dependency of French

With one of the three pillars of colonial rule gone, the destruction of the French rule of the physical space and political economy of Algeria soon follows. In the case of the boy openly denouncing French propaganda and currying favor for the FLN, Pontecorvo depicts the break from the mentality that the Algerians must live under the Frenchmen, rather than as human equals. The second scene with the woman refusing rations provided by French soldiers emphasizes not only the idea that the Algerians are ready to break the mental shackles that bind and marginalize them, but also be seen as independent, without the care and protection of false French generosity. This marks a pivotal point in the process of revolution, as Fanon describes it, “For he knows that he is not an animal ; and it is precisely at the moment he realizes his humanity that he begins to sharpen the weapons with which he will secure its victory” (Fanon 43). In other words, once the psychological chains that burden the colonized into believing that they are subhuman and must serve under their colonizer break, they begin to see their own humanity and begin the process to fight for its rights. Ultimately, The Battle of Algiers effectively depicts the transition of the psychological state of the Algerian people from believing that they are incapable of self-rule to wanting to fight for their