1. Jordan Talbot
Professor Pedersen
Anthropology 596
15 December 2014
Reflections of Colonialism in Algeria: An Analysis of Four Films
The Algerian War of Independence began in 1954 and ended in 1962. An increasing
sense of nationalism among the Algerian population, as well as the continuing breakdown of the
European colonial presence in Africa, contributed directly to the long, violent conflict. Tensions
remain between French and Algerian citizens, and both of the nations' governments promote
conflicting narratives on the events that transpired during the war. Filmmaking is one method
used to interpret the variety of information regarding the colonial presence and the activities of
the government during the war. The directors of the films The Battle of Algiers (1966), Intimate
Enemies (2007), Outside the Law (2010), and Of Gods and Men (2010) provide different
representations of colonial power, Algerian nationalism, and the relationship between French and
Algerian citizens.
The Battle of Algiers depicts the wartime environment in the city of Algiers from 1954
until 1957. The narrative follows several characters, including: leaders of the FLN, female
guerilla soldiers, and French military officers, who play key roles in determining the future of
Algeria. The titular Battle of Algiers serves as the climax of the film, and, although the French
are victorious, the final moment of the film is a celebration of the independence of Algeria.
Intimate Enemies follows a unit of the French military that is sent on a mission to the
Forbidden Zone, which lies in an area of rural Algeria. The purpose of the mission is to capture
or kill one of the leaders of the FLN. The members of the military unit are French citizens, as

2. well as Algerian defectors. The film examines conflicts within the unit and the inner
psychological conflicts of the men who must wrestle with the harsh realities of war.
Outside the Law follows the lives of three brothers through the years of the French-
Algerian War until the declaration of independence by Algeria. The brothers become important
figures within the FLN, and they organize other Algerians to fight against the French regime. As
the FLN use increasingly violent methods in order to achieve its goals, each of the brothers
struggle with his respective role in the organization. The ultimate question of the movie asks the
audience to question the cost of colonialism, as well as the cost of the use of violence to achieve
power.
Of Gods and Men uses a Trappist monastery in Algeria in 1996, as the setting for the
film. During the course of the film, the Algerian Civil War begins as Islamic nationalists begin
murdering European habitants. The monks' decision to stay or flee Algeria becomes the primary
action of the film. Ultimately, all of the men resolve to stay in the country, although they will
likely be executed.
The three films that examine the French-Algeria war present dramatically varied
representations of the military power of the French colonial regime. In The Battle of Algiers, the
military units are comprised entirely of French citizens or men of European descent. There are no
depictions of Algerian collaborators in the film, whereas; historically, Algerians who fought for
the France during the Second World War would join the French military against the FLN. In
addition, the French official Lieutenant-Colonel Mathieu believes in the right of France to
continue occupying Algeria. He serves as the embodiment of the harsh realities of French
nationalism in the film. Rather than become defensive and incensed at the accusations of the use
of torture from journalists, he points to the French media's complicity in the war. If the French

3. government believes that the war must be won at all costs, then all of France is complicit in
whatever tactics the military deems necessary to win the war. The use of torture is a practical
choice for Mathieu; it is necessary in order to protect the pieds-noir of Algiers.
Because Intimate Enemies primarily concerns one French military unit, the film presents
a variety of perspectives of the members' ideas regarding the colonial regime. First, there is a
divide between the French about whether or not the Algerians should have independence from
France. Lieutenant Terrien, the protagonist of the film, points out to another officer the hypocrisy
of the French government in allowing Morocco and Tunisia independence while refusing the
same agency to Algeria. The lieutenant is initially shown as sympathetic to the Algerians, while
the other members of the military have come to accept the FLN as the enemy. The interaction
between the two men show the necessity of dehumanizing the “Other” in order to continue to use
violence against them.
Second, the film presents a version of a hardened military commander in the character
Commandant Vesoul. The commander does not hesitate to use napalm in order to end a firefight
between the French troops and Algerian militia; even though, as Terrien states in the subsequent
scene, the use of napalm in war has been banned. In a later scene, the commander gives an order
to massacre an entire village because one of the villagers, injured and in hiding, was a member of
the FLN. Vesoul's character shows the power of the French Army. After using an illegal weapon
and ordering the killing of unarmed civilians, the commander is not shown to suffer any negative
consequences for those deeds. The maintenance of colonial hegemony was so important to the
French government that they are willing to allow atrocities to be committed on people who do
not have the power to resist.

4. In Outside the Law, the characters that make up the members of the French military in
Algeria are not given names. Instead, the film presents groups of military units that overpower
the Algerians in terms of numbers and organization. The film's representation of the Setif
massacre shows the military swarming the shouting protesters from all sides of the march in the
city street. When the march devolves into violence, the military easily overpowers and traps the
protestors, leaving few survivors. When the three brothers move to the slums of Nanterre,
nameless French officers tear apart the dwellings, again severely disrupting the lives of the
Algerians who live there. The members of the military and police force remain anonymous
because they are merely tools of the colonial regime.
The three films also present variations in the representation of the Algerian population,
including members of the FLN and those sympathetic to the French government. In The Battle of
Algiers, none of the Algerian population is shown to be sympathetic to the French occupiers. The
men and women who are not officially a part of the FLN appear to be afraid to express any sort
of resistance. They are easily dominated by government officials and the military. However,
when given the opportunity, the civilians are receptive to the message of independence. They
become a part of the non-violent resistance in refusing to labor for the French government. In a
scene based on FLN tactics of resistance, three women are given bombs to place in the French
section of the city of Algiers. The men of the FLN give the women makeup and sundresses in
order to present a more European, and seemingly less dangerous, style. The scene shows the
racial profiling of Algerians by the French military, which the Algerian nationalists use to their
advantage.
Intimate Enemies shows Algerian men fighting for the French Army, as well as Algerian
members of the FLN. In one scene, an Algerian soldier states that he fights against the

5. nationalists because he served for the French Army during the Second World War. Although the
man cannot be afforded the rights of a French citizen, he considers himself French because of his
military service. The willingness to die for one country can lessen the desire to want to be
independent from that same country. However, as a captured FLN member states in a later scene,
the Algerians can never be French, thus the countrymen should form an identity separate from
France. The view of the FLN in the film is decidedly unfavorable. Although the French military
commits wartime atrocities, a majority of the actions of the Algerian militia do not garner
sympathy from the audience. One of the first scenes of the film shows the village of an Algerian
informant who spies for the French Army. The unit arrives at the village, and, the next day, the
unit finds that the FLN has massacred the entire village. The scene shows that the French and the
Algerians are equally guilty of committing horrendous acts of violence in the name of their
respective causes.
In Outside the Law, the primary variation in Algerian nationalism is represented by the
younger brother Said and the eldest brother Abdelkader. When the brothers immigrate to France,
Said attempts to assimilate into French society and establish financial ties to his new home. Said
provides financial support to young male immigrants and trains them to become professional
boxers. In Said’s perspective, becoming a successful, elite member of society will break down
the stereotypes that bourgeois French society holds against Algerian immigrants. By contrast,
after serving time in a Paris prison cell as a political prisoner, Abdelkader believes that a violent
revolution is necessary to overcoming the power of the French government and Western ideals.
Abdelkader frequently chastises his younger brother for adapting a European way of life. For
him, the expression of an Algerian identity becomes an expression of an anti-European identity.

6. Several tactics of war are depicted in each of the three films. Two of the films, The Battle
of Algiers and Intimate Enemies, show Algerian men disguised as women in order to launch
surprise attacks against the French soldiers. The tactic is shown in The Battle of Algiers in one
scene as part of a multi-faceted attack on the French military forces. In a few seconds, the
Algerian men cross paths with French soldiers, who recognize that the people are wearing shoes
while Algerian women do not wear shoes. The Algerians then fire upon the French soldiers,
killing them all. The tactic is explored further in Intimate Enemies. When the unit spots people
traversing the Forbidden Zone, Lieutenant Terrien orders the men not to fire because he believes
they are women. Dougnac ignores the order and subsequently explains to Terrien that he knew
the people were men because they were wearing shoes. The distinction of footwear is important
in both films, because a soldier would not want to fire upon unarmed, defenseless women.
All three films depict use of torture. The Battle of Algiers and Intimate Enemies explicitly
show scenes of French soldiers torturing captured Algerians. The first scene in The Battle of
Algiers shows several French soldiers present as an Algerian prisoner is tortured for information
which leads to the French victory in Algiers in 1957. The torture would be considered sanitized,
as the prisoner appears to be in control of his mental faculties, and he does not appear to have
any visible wounds. By contrast, Intimate Enemies uses scenes of torture to show how the
idealism of Lieutenant Terrien has been destroyed by his time in Algeria. Initially against the use
of torture, Terrien comes to execute a prisoner after a long torture sequence. Another scene of
torture shows Dougnac ordering one of the Algerian soldiers to torture him. The scene seems to
indicate that Dougnac is punishing himself over his actions during the war, or that he uses the
pain to cope with the trauma of war.

7. In Outside the Law, Algerian and French characters use torture to achieve their respective
goals. Abdelkader and Messaoud use torture against Algerians who do not comply with the goals
of the FLN. However, the two brothers also avenge Algerians who have been tortured by the
French police force. One French police inspector, Picot, is a known torturer of Algerians
suspected of terrorist violence. In order to show the power and reach of the FLN in Paris, the
brothers enter the police building and murder Picot. The director clearly condemns the use of
torture by showing the harshness and cruelty of those who use it as a tactic in war. Although the
Algerian cause is presented in a sympathetic way, the cruelty of individuals does not have a
distinction between nationalities.
The Battle of Algiers and Outside the Law depict the use urban guerilla warfare by the
Algerian forces, while Intimate Enemies depicts guerilla tactics used in a more rural area of
Algeria. The events of The Battle of Algiers happen almost exclusively within the city of Algiers
over a period of three years. In the film, the Algerians appear to have an advantage because they
know the city better than their pieds-noirs, bourgeois counterparts. They are able to sneak around
the military checkpoints and use the walls and alleys to hide from French officers. Only by a
superior show of military power are the French able to claim victory in the city of Algiers. In
Outside the Law, Abdelkader, Messaoud and the men who join the FLN fight the French forces
on the streets of Paris. The tactics are stealthy, and they are labeled as terrorists by the French
government. The label masks the war happening in Algeria that encourages the FLN to react
with violence against France and the complicit French population.
Intimate Enemies shows guerilla tactics used by the French and Algerian forces. Both
sides use the rocky, hilly terrain to mask themselves from the respective enemy. In the opening
scene, a firefight breaks out among the French troops because the terrain masks the true identity

8. of the opposing forces. The scene allows the audience to recognize that the French military units
are truly foreigners to the land, as they are unable to recognize the direction or details that are
provided by friendly troops over the radio system.
One important element present in two of the films is the representation of the propaganda
espoused by the French government. A scene in The Battle of Algiers shows the French military
urging the Algerian habitants to return to work on the sixth day of the strike, which was
organized by the FLN. The man with the megaphone proclaims that France protects Algerian
civilians, because all of the people of Algeria are French citizens. The man declares that because
the FLN prevents the people of the city from working, the nationalists are not prioritizing the
best interests of the common citizen. The message of the French government insists that Algeria
is completely reliant upon the colonial power. The narrative works to infantilize the colonized
population by stating that the people are not capable of becoming economically and
technologically developed or enlightened.
In Intimate Enemies, Lieutenant Terrien returns to France and goes to a cinema that
shows a propaganda film about the French presence in Algeria, contrasting sharply with Terrien's
wartime experiences. The film shows idyllic images of new construction and peaceful farming
while the narrator states that the French military builds schools and provides support to the
Algerian people. The message of the film allows the government to justify the continued
occupation of Algeria, despite the sovereignty given to multiple European colonies after the end
of the Second World War. If French civilians believe that the presence of the government is
beneficial to Algeria, they will be more likely to support the continued military presence in the
country. Because the audience sees the propaganda in the latter half of the movie, the scene

9. provides an excellent juxtaposition between the colonial narrative given to the French people and
the reality experienced by the French and Algerian soldiers.
The propaganda film in Intimate Enemies also creates an understanding for the audience
of a statement made in an earlier scene by Dougnac, a fellow French officer. When Terrien asks
Dougnac about the use of napalm in war, Dougnac alludes to the fact that the official narrative of
the government is that the French military is maintaining order in Algeria. In the final scene of
the film, the text over the visuals state that France did not recognize that the conflict had been a
war until 1999. The colonial regime has the power to control the message from the colonies. The
number of people who believe in the message determine its power. Even in the age of
newspapers and television, information could still be easily controlled. With the dawn of the
information age in the 1990s, information contrary to the official government narrative could be
obtained and used to influence modern policy.
Because Of Gods and Men is set during the Algerian Civil War, the French military
presence does not have power in the action of the film. However, the events of the film are
influenced by colonial history and the aftermath of the Algerian War of Independence. In the
previous three films, the filmmaker uses dialogue to communicate that the FLN is comprised of
Islamic fundamentalists who oppose smoking, the consumption of alcohol, and the possession or
spread of anything related to Western culture. The monastery in the film is Catholic, and several
of the surrounding villagers follow the same religion. According to the film, the Islamic
extremists, the men who remain faithful to the social ideals of the FLN, instigate the violence
against Europeans in Algeria. The violence directed at the monks occurs because they are
Catholics who choose to remain in the country.

10. While the military presence of France in Algeria dissipated in 1996, the film recognizes
the special status of the French in a former colony. While the extremists do not target Algerians
in the film, the war occurred between opposing Algerian groups. The primary conflict of the film
is the monks' choice to stay at the monastery or flee to France. Religious and national identity
affords the monks the privilege of being able to leave a dangerous situation, while the civilians
who rely on the monastery for medical care are not able to flee, as well. Ultimately, the monks
choose to stay because the villagers rely heavily on the monastery. The reason for the decision is
presented as the noble choice, although several Algerians in the film advise the monks to leave
the country. While the decision to stay and attempt to broker peace for the village is a worthy
goal, the monks are not native Algerians and, taking into account the other films, ultimately do
not belong in Algeria.
While the films present historical events, the way in which those events are interpreted is
left to the discretion of the filmmaker and/or screenwriter. None of the films cast a positive light
on the individuals involved in the Algerian War of Independence, although Of Gods and Men
present the French characters as noble and peace-seeking. The first three films show the personal
cost of war. The characters sacrifice themselves, their ideals, or their families in order to fight for
a cause that is believed to be just. Although the war ended with the independence of Algeria, the
journey was long and violent. Individuals in both countries suffered the trauma of war and
history continues to be interpreted in the modern era.