The director's real achievement is not in making a piece of agitprop but in using these fundamental tools of cinema in such an extraordinarily affecting way.
Comment
02/13/04
Rate this Movie 
Battle of Algiers (1966)
99
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:68
Fresh:67
Rotten:1
Average Rating:9/10
Consensus: A powerful, documentary-like examination of the response to an occupying force, The Battle of Algiers hasn't aged a bit since its release in 1966.
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Box Office: $188,820
Synopsis: Gillo Pontecorvo's presents a harrowing, documentary-style depiction of the Algerian's people's struggle to liberate themselves from France between 1954 and 1962. The film creates a stunning... [More]
Get This Movie
Reviews for Battle of Algiers
Top CriticA startling and still-potent view of the double standard of war.
02/13/04
what really resonates on watching Algiers is its message about the widespread loss of civilian life and the staggering destruction to civic infrastructure as the heaviest costs of war
12/07/06
If any movie squeezes you into the shoes of grassroots combatants fighting a monstrous colonialist power for the right to their own neighborhoods, this is it.
01/06/04
Top CriticAn extraordinary movie that ruffled many feathers when it first came out. Almost 40 years later, it retains the poignancy it delivered back then.
05/21/04
Whatever they made of The Battle of Algiers at the Pentagon, this is a must-see for everyone else now.
05/11/07
One of the essential works of world cinema.
03/10/08
a lesson in modern warfare
01/09/04
This lesson in modern warfare is not only instructive to the Pentagon's military but is of considerable value to any generation's fascination with law, order, anarchic behavior and classic story-telling technique.
01/12/04
The chafing, mutually uncomprehending collision of Western occupiers and Muslim occupied has never been captured with such dispassionate, thrilling clarity.
02/27/04
Top CriticSuperb and unrivalled.
01/26/06
Brilliantly directed set-pieces and remarkable thronging crowd scenes make the film a masterpiece; the ominous familiarity of its subject makes it a must-see.
05/11/07
gripping, relevant cinema...Irish film, "Bloody Sunday," borrowed its entire structure from "Algiers."
02/18/04
It's as fresh and suspenseful as anything before or since.
10/19/04
Top CriticGripping and technically dazzling documentary-style drama.
03/25/04
Top CriticIt looks beyond any question to be an original documentary film, put together from newsreel footage, complemented by staged dramatic scenes.
10/26/03
Top CriticA fascinating movie in its own right, more relevant because of today's world situation.
05/14/04
Remains a signficant achievement, a testament to film's powers to put you in the middle of a historical event and make it feel real.
03/26/04
Top CriticPontecorvo has nearly accomplished the impossible: to make an epic film that convinces the viewer he is watching the real thing.
10/26/03
Top CriticIt remains a surprisingly instructive and cautionary lesson in the way that populist movements can burn parent states down to their grass roots.
04/01/04
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
MSN's Year in Review 
Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.
40 Best Films of the 2000s
Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!
Tarantino's Characters
Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.
Top 10 Movies of 2009
TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds