perc30twerkmaster

This film truly shows the lengths people will go to for freedom when oppressed. i appreciate that the film didn't outright pick a side per se, (obviously the french treated the native algerians horribly as they systematically oppressed them politically, socially, and economically for over a century and treated them like second class citizens on their own land, and the FLN had all of the reasons in the world to do the things they did in order to help achieve independence for their people) but the film does a great job showing the humanity of both sides. such as during the bombing scenes in the diner and cafe showing the victims going about their day oblivious to the attacks about to take place and you cant help but feel a little remorse to the victims. A lot of that also has to do with how it is shot, with long shots of the victims close-up it really helps to humanize them. At the same time knowing the context of the reasons these attacks are taking place and the fact after one of the attacks they start beating an innocent Muslim boy while calling him an "arab rat" gets rid of a lot the sympathy you have for the french colonizers as i'm sure a majority of them also held these same racist beliefs. on the other end of that there is plenty more instances in this film showing the cruelty of the french towards the algerians, including the torture scenes which were deeply uncomfortable to watch. another scene that stuck with me was the aftermath of the casbah bombing by the pro-colonialists. the scenes of the bodies being pulled out of the rubble with the bodies already on the floor covered up was a very powerful scene and it will be sure to stuck with me for a while. truly a great film and is now one of my favorites.