As the FLN led Algerian fight for independence against the occupying French continues to escalate, both sides take drastic measures on the very different battleground of urban warfare. Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers is an exquisitely shot documentary mimicking film, superbly edited, and scarily relevant to this day. The leftist film is somewhat distressing considering the bias in favor of the revolutionaries and its future influence on those seeking to employ similar guerrilla tactics and, to be fair, on those trying to combat them.
*** 1/2 out of ****
