Since I didn’t read anything about this movie ahead of time (and am not familiar enough with twencen history to know immediately what the Battle of Algiers is referring to), I assumed this was some kind of WW2 war movie, and would feature grizzled generals ordering men in helmets around, like an old-fashioned version of Saving Private Ryan or something.

Um, no. Because while it is a war movie of sorts, it’s about the anti-colonialist uprising in Algeria. The Battle of Algiers is the 1954-1957 resistance in that city against the French occupiers, and the movie is about urban guerrilla warfare. And so it follows both the leaders of the resistance, and the French police (and eventually military) who are tasked with putting down the resistance.

The result is an unflinching look at the terrible inexorable logic of both terrorism and colonialist counter-insurgency tactics. The French put checkpoints around Islamic neighborhoods; the Algerians bomb a cafe; the French waterboard prisoners; the Algerians run down pedestrians with a van.

We see all this not only through near-documentary footage (there is no actual newsreel footage in the movie, but they shot scenes on location using local non-actors on newsreel film stock, so it often seems like there is), but also through scenes with the rebels and soldiers as they plan and execute their actions. Watching a woman set a bomb in a cafe, knowing why she’s placing that bomb, but also seeing the innocent people dancing there and knowing they’re about to die, and watching the bomber’s face as she comes to terms with this herself— it’s powerful, unnerving stuff.

And so yeah, this movie was made in 1966 (four years after Algerian independence; it was banned in Paris until 1971), but it is absolutely, sadly, relevant today.