Color and Music in The Battle of Algiers

This post is mainly concerned with the color and music in the movie the Battle of Algiers. First off, I want to pose a question: What effect does the black and white have on the movie in general? Does it add to the emotional experience? Does it add drama? I believe that the two colors (black and white) do something very interesting: it doesn’t cause distraction. In some movies, the mix of colors can be distracting to the scenes. I think the fact that this movie is only black and white makes the audience really focus in on what is happening. Second, I want to comment on the music in the movie. I think the music was my favorite aspect throughout the entire movie. There were several scenes where the music added an element, like suspense. In a movie where there are limited things occurring, suspense really gave the movie a “kick” it needed.

One thought on “Color and Music in The Battle of Algiers”

  1. I definitely feel like the black and white footage made the movie much more realistic and had its effect of convincing people that it was real. It’s feel was there but I definitely do agree with you on the fact that the music was also the other key element. The music itself is composed by Ennio Morricone, a composer who is known for his works in Spaghetti Westerns such as The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and even more recent works such as Django Unchained. The man is a composer legend. This music was obviously scripted and had a place in the film, but what about all the other music that we heard that was not composed? Pontecorvo actually decided to use drumming indigenous to the Algierian people during scenes that reflected of them. Towards the end of the film it was all just chanting and shouting that the Algierians themselves actually used, and I thought this was pretty neat.

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