Battle of Algiers Notable Themes

There are several recurring and important themes portrayed in The Battle of Algiers, undoubtedly meant to expose the truth behind unstable areas of the word and the violence that comes with them.  In several different scenes racism is flaunted, although this could just have been the reality of the time period and not commentary on the situation.  However, innocents taking the blame and the backlash for acts of violence is a theme that is showed several different times within the film.  This is a sign of the realism of the film, as it shows the injustice of violence and the tendency of people to let anger cloud their judgement and hurt those who are innocent.  The “Arabs”, no matter who they are, are assumed to be up to no good or responsible for whatever has happened every time.  This is seen when Ali is tripped up at the beginning of the movie(although he actually was a criminal being chased in that instance), when an attack on a police officer is blamed on an innocent old man by accusing French people on the rooftops, and when a child is attacked after the bombing of the horse races.  The racism that leads up to these unjust acts of accusation is undeniable, and seems to have been included purposefully by the director to show how quickly blind tensions can escalate.

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