Masterpiece war film banned for five years after Venice Film Festival boycott now available in UK
An award-winning film which won an award at the world's oldest movie festival is now available to watch in the UK after it was banned for half a decade.
Back in 1966, after England fans celebrated their one and only World Cup triumph, there was another victory in the form of cinema at the 27th Venice Film Festival.
Although it was subsequently banned for five years in France, The Battle of Algiers is still recognised as one of the greatest films of all time, and for any cinephiles who haven't already enjoyed it, it's now free to watch for Amazon Prime subscribers.
The war documentary reconstructs the urban guerrilla campaign waged against French colonial forces in the Casbah of Algiers, so it's perhaps no surprise that France weren't too keen on the film being shown even after it's success at the world's oldest film festival, which returned for its 83rd iteration yesterday (2 September).
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Debates about the film have still not ended but it remains celebrated by directors throughout history, none more so than the legendary Stanley Kubrick, who was the man behind classic cinema such as The Shining and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Kubrick praised the film’s documentary-like quality in an interview with the French magazine Positif (issues 100–101): “All films are, in a sense, false documentaries. One tries to approach reality as much as possible, only it’s not reality. There are people who do very clever things, which have completely fascinated and fooled me. For example, The Battle of Algiers. It’s very impressive.”
Kubrick is of course familiar with having films banned, since his controversial production of A Clockwork Orange spent more than 30 years out of circulation in the UK.
In September 1965, Kubrick told his long-time assistant Anthony Frewin: “I couldn’t really understand what cinema was capable of without seeing The Battle of Algiers.”
Frewin later confirmed that Kubrick continued to talk about the film, which was directed by Italian filmmaker Gilberto Pontecorvo, right up until his death in 1999 at the age of 70.
American filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow is also a huge fan of the 1966 film, as she said: "Okay, probably my favourite movie of all time. It’s incredible how the story is told, how it’s shot, the sort of tension, the metronome of tension in this is almost insufferable. But I say that as a compliment.”
The film raises a lot of discussion about terrorism and counter-terrorism and the seemingly endless cycle of violence that stems from repression and resistance.
So, if you're ever stuck for something to watch and want to take the advice of some of the best filmmakers from history then this one could well be worth a watch.
Topics: Cinema, Amazon Prime
James Moorhouse