The Battle of Algiers

I've been trying to find some time to make sure I keep my list of movies and my calendar updated for you guys. Right now, unless there is another natural disaster, I should be done by Christmas day. Of course, every week Ebert adds a new Great Movie to his collection. One day I will catch up to him. I'm just not quite sure when that will be yet. It's been harder to keep up with work and everything else going on in my life, but it's worth it. I feel like I'm going to film school every night - at times it's tough, and at times it's fun, but overall, it's great.

I watched The Battle of Algiers, directed in 1966 by Gillo Pontecorvo in film classes before. I don't know if I ever saw the whole thing before now, but I'm glad that I did. It's a great film about war, and urban guerrilla warfare. It's shot in stark black and white, the contrast often extreme during violent scenes. It shows the first time this new sort of warfare was ever used, the sort that was later employed by many countries. I like that it feels like a documentary, and is still really important to watch today - guerrilla warfare is still so common today, especially in the war that has been going on.