The War in Algeria, or the war that was officially no war, is a particularly dark spot on French history. For all the parties invloved, the French and the Algerians alike. Some of the movies on this list have been prohibited in France for a long time. I have only seen and reviewed Intimate enemies aka L’ennemi intime which is a very good movie but I know that a few of the others on the list, first of all La battaglia di Algeri aka Battle of Algiers and Chronique des années de braise are very good movies as well. I got L’honneur d’un Capitaine which, like some of the others, is only available in French. Lost Command has quite an interesting cast but I have my doubts whether the movie is any good and the first one on the list is decidedly a B-Movie.
- Madeleine und der Legionär aka Escape from Sahara directed by Wolfgang Staudte (GE 1957) starring Hildegard Knef, Bernhard Wicki, Hannes Messemer, Helmut Schmid, Joachim Hansen
- Marcia o crepa directed by Frank Wisbar (BE/SP/IT/GE 1962) starring Stewart Granger, Dietmar Schönherr
- Le petit soldat directed by Jean-Luc Godard (FR 1960/1963) starring Michel Subor, Anna Karina, László Szabó
- La Battaglia di Algeri aka The Battle of Algiers directed by Gillo Pontecorvo (IT/ Alg 1966) starring Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin (here is my review)
- Lost Command directed by Mark Robson (US 1966) starring Anthony Quinn, Alain Delon, Michèle Morgan, Claudia Cardinale
- Le pistonné directed by Claude Berri (FR 1970) starring Guy Bedos, Yves Robert
- Avoir 20 ans dans les Aurès aka To Be Twenty in the Aures directed by René Vautier (FR 1972) starring Alexandre Arcady, Hamid Djellouli
- R.A.S. directed by Yves Boisset, IT/ FR/ TUN 1973) starring Jacques Spiesser, Jacques Villeret, Jacques Weber
- Chronique des années de braise aka Chronicle of the Burning Years directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, (Alg 1975) starring Yorgo Voyagis
- L’Honneur d’un Capitaine directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer (FR 1982) starring Jacques Perrin, Nicole Garcia (here is my review)
- La trahison aka The Betrayal directed by Philippe Faucon (FR/BE 2005) starring Vincent Martinez, Ahmed Berrhama, Cyril Troley, Walid Bouzham
- L’ennemi intime aka Intimate enemies directed by Florent Emilio Siri (FR/Morocco 2007), starring Benoît Magimel, Albert Dupontel, Aurélien Recoing (see my review here)
I am going to watch Battle of Algiers first and then decide whether to go further. Since it is a masterpiece, if I do not like it, there is little hope for the others.
That’s pretty weird thinking. Just because I don’t like the one or the other Vietnam movie doesn’t mean I cannot go further. Some of them like Intimate enemies are more modern and were not known at the time when Battle of Algiers was made. I think you would like it more and would definitely suggest that’s the one to start with and move to the “Masterpiece” later.
[…] those of you interested in movies on the Algerian war – here’s a list that will also guide you to some of my […]
Loin des hommes (‘Far from Men’, 2014) is a wartime drama taking place at the beginning of the Algerian War, in the Atlas mountains. Part Western and part road-movie, with Viggo Mortensen and Reda Kateb, adapted from a short story by Albert Camus… it’s definitely worth watching.
Thank you so much. That sounds like a movie I would want to see. I’m awfully behind when it comes to newer films.