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THE ILLEGITIMATE LEGITIMACY OF THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS IN FRENCH FILM CULTURE

2007; Routledge; Volume: 9; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13698010701618604

1469-929X

Patricia Caillé,

Cultural Identity and Heritage

Abstract This article explores the three main phases of the reception of The Battle of Algiers in France – in 1966 when the film was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, on its first national release in the early 1970s, and in the wake of its screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 – in order to understand reactions to, and appropriations of, the film by the critics and by the public. This reception history, it is argued, is deeply shaped by the intersection of the values promoted by a strong film culture and the larger preoccupations of a national culture that has difficulties coming to terms with its postcolonial status. An examination of the critical reception and of the box office figures highlights a very regular pattern: the evaluation of the film in each historical phase owes more to national or international concerns than to the analysis of the film itself. Paradoxically, it also shows the ways in which the categories imposed by French film culture in the late 1950s and early 1960s have survived and continue to inhibit the development of new questions about the relationship between film and national culture in France today. The relative invisibility of The Battle of Algiers in French film culture is not so much the outcome of political censorship as that of the film's inability to fit into film culture's privileged categories and of critics’ reluctance to reformulate the questions that can be asked about cinema. Keywords: Algerian War of Independence and filmcritical evaluationFrench film culturepostcolonial French film culturereceptionBattle of Algiers Notes 1Images of the Algerian War of Independence in the illustrated press and in the audio-visual media have been examined more consistently (Bourdon Citation1992; Cheminot Citation2005; Fleury-Villate Citation2001). CinémAction constitutes a singular exception in the landscape of French film journals (see, in particular, Berrah et al. Citation1997; but also Dine Citation1997; Guibbert 1992; Jeancolas Citation1979). Postcolonial French culture has been explored more consistently in Anglo-American scholarship. In the last ten years, a significant body of work has been produced about the imaging of the colonies, and to a lesser extent about postcolonial France, by historians of ACHAC (Association pour la Connaissance de l'Histoire de l'Afrique Contemporaine), a research group led by Pascal Blanchard. 2In Imaginaires de guerre, Benjamin Stora takes into account issues of reception, and reintegrates film reception within the larger context of the transformation of the audio-visual landscape in France at the time (1997: 175–207). 3Much of the scholarship on the representations of the Algerian War of Independence has been constructed around the notions of the ‘repressed’, ‘silence’ and ‘amnesia’ (Harbi and Stora Citation2004), and the absence of images has been regarded as important in these debates (Stora Citation1992; Stora 1997: 248–55). 4See Stora's article above. 5 The Battle of Algiers received a few (very positive) reviews when it was shown briefly in 1981 in Paris as part of a film festival about the Algerian War, together with Avoir 20 ans dans les Aurès and Elise ou la vraie vie by Michel Drach, and La Question by Laurent Heynemann. I will not take this festival into account in this analysis due to the very limited ‘release’ of the film in that context. 6In this respect, the review by Jean Daniel (Le Nouvel Observateur, 10 May 1967) in the wake of a screening of the film in Tunis and the review by Claude Mauriac (Figaro Littéraire, 1 June 1970) are striking exceptions, as both writers convey personal responses to the film in the light of their own experience of the war. 7All translations from French are by the author. 8By 1966 Pontecorvo had directed La grande strada azzurra (1957), a Franco-Italian-West German production starring Yves Montand and Francisco Rabal, and Kapo (1959) a Franco-Italian production starring Laurent Terzieff and Emmanuelle Riva. See Forgacs's article above for more information on Pontecorvo's career. 9For more detail on Yacef's role see Forgacs’ article above. 10The term ‘adjustment’ is here a translation of the term ‘mise en phase’ which Odin defines as the ‘process’ that enables spectators to let themselves be ‘moved’ to ‘the rhythm of the depicted events’ (2000: 57). 11For more on this ‘censorship from below’, see Stora's article above. 12See p. 366, n. 2. 13In Paris and its suburbs Les Centurions sold 389,983 tickets over ten weeks; LeVent des Aurès 22,572 tickets over seven weeks; and Les Oliviers de la justice 29,323 tickets. 14See p. 341, n. 2. 15See Editorial above; and see House and MacMaster Citation2006. 16 Le Canard Enchaîné (6 June 1973) reports that an exhibitor stopped the screenings of December, even though it was doing well, because the film drew too many Algerian spectators and thus jeopardized the reputation of his cinema. 17These figures, drawn from Le Film français, l'hebdomadaire des professionnels du cinéma et de l'audiovisuel (France, 1944), are the box office figures of the films for Paris and its suburbs. 18My analysis focuses on twenty-five actual reviews of the film, examined within the larger context of the many articles published about its eventful release. 19The exceptions come in L'Express (1 June 1970) and in Cinéma. 20See Forgacs’ article above. 21‘La Bataille d'Alger à présent’, Cahiers du cinéma (September 2004): 64–74.