3 The war of liberation on screen
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Guy Austin
Abstract
The Algerian film industry was nationalised as early as August 1964, and soon became aligned with the FLN's mythologising cultural policy. Two films in particular show an engagement with the trauma of the war while at the same time refusing to demonise the French or to oversimplify the representation of Algerian identity. It is in fact characteristic of La Bataille d'Alger to create an iconography of trauma from allusions to sacred martyrdom (with Christian overtones, presumably due to Pontecorvo's and Solinas's cultural background) combined with echoes of Italian neorealism and of contemporary still images from the Algerian war. Following on from the critical success of pioneering films about the war such as La Bataille d'Alger and Le Vent des Aures, the cinema moudjahid of the late 1960s rapidly mythologised and ossified the representation of the liberation struggle.
Abstract
The Algerian film industry was nationalised as early as August 1964, and soon became aligned with the FLN's mythologising cultural policy. Two films in particular show an engagement with the trauma of the war while at the same time refusing to demonise the French or to oversimplify the representation of Algerian identity. It is in fact characteristic of La Bataille d'Alger to create an iconography of trauma from allusions to sacred martyrdom (with Christian overtones, presumably due to Pontecorvo's and Solinas's cultural background) combined with echoes of Italian neorealism and of contemporary still images from the Algerian war. Following on from the critical success of pioneering films about the war such as La Bataille d'Alger and Le Vent des Aures, the cinema moudjahid of the late 1960s rapidly mythologised and ossified the representation of the liberation struggle.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of illustrations vi
- Preface vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- 1 An introduction to modern Algerian history and politics 1
- 2 A brief history of Algerian cinema 20
- 3 The war of liberation on screen 33
- 4 Representing gender 61
- 5 Berber cinema, historical and ahistorical 100
- 6 After ‘Black October’ 121
- 7 Screening the ‘invisible war’ 141
- 8 Memory and identity 158
- 9 Conclusion 173
- Filmography 192
- Index 195
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of illustrations vi
- Preface vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- 1 An introduction to modern Algerian history and politics 1
- 2 A brief history of Algerian cinema 20
- 3 The war of liberation on screen 33
- 4 Representing gender 61
- 5 Berber cinema, historical and ahistorical 100
- 6 After ‘Black October’ 121
- 7 Screening the ‘invisible war’ 141
- 8 Memory and identity 158
- 9 Conclusion 173
- Filmography 192
- Index 195
