Ali La Pointe
Ali La Pointe is the protagonist of the film. Based on the historical figure legally named Ali Ammar, Ali goes from being an illiterate laborer and boxer with a history of run-ins with the law to a leading member of the FLN fighting against the French colonial occupation of Algeria. Pontecorvo depicts Ali as a pugnacious man willing to sacrifice himself for his principles. The film opens on the question of whether Ali will surrender himself to French paratroopers who have found his hideout. The film ends with Ali refusing to speak to the French, preferring to die rather than negotiate.
Djafar
Djafar is a leader of the National Liberation Front, the organization spearheading the terrorist insurgency tactics in Algiers. Djafar is based on the real-life figure of Saadi Yacef, an FLN leader who portrays Djafar in the film. Djafar brings Ali into the FLN by testing him with an unloaded gun to see if Ali would carry out the assassination of a French policeman. With Ali's help, Djafar spreads the influence of the FLN throughout the Casbah and Algeria. He surrenders to the French toward the end of the film to avoid the destruction of the residence in which he is hiding.
Ben M'Hidi
Ben M’Hidi is a co-founder of the revolutionary National Liberation Front. To get the attention of the UN, M'Hidi organizes a general strike of Algerian citizens to show support for the FLN and Algerian independence. After being captured, M'Hidi takes questions from reporters with Mathieu standing beside him. M'Hidi defends the tactics of the FLN, which he believes are benign compared to the atrocities committed by hegemonic powers like France and the U.S. Several months later, M'Hidi dies in prison, apparently by hanging himself with his shirt, even though Islam forbids suicide. However, French officials have confirmed that the real-life figure was killed by the French in prison.
Petit Omar
Omar is a youth member of the FLN. Proving himself instrumental, Omar delivers messages among FLN members without drawing the suspicion of the French. Omar dies alongside Ali in the wall-cavity hideout at the end of the film.
Halima
Halima is a prominent female member of the FLN. She is shown carrying pistols under her burka and delivering them to male FLN members so they may carry out assassinations. Halima is also one of three women who pose as members of the secular community of Algiers in order to plant bombs in public places. Because the French expect FLN members to be men, women like Halima fly under the radar as women.
Lieutenant-Colonel Philippe Mathieu
Philippe Mathieu is a former commander of a French paratrooper squadron who is now the prefect in charge of the counter-resistance to the FLN. Thinking of the rebel group as an enemy army, Mathieu commands his men to use torture to gain information about the FLN's membership. Mathieu is displeased when the press report negatively about his efforts, claiming that anyone who wants Algeria to remain a French colony must accept his methods, no matter how brutal. Ironically, this former representative of the French resistance against Nazi occupation becomes the figurehead of the French occupation that the Algerian population is resisting.
Fathima
Fathima is an FLN member who lightens her hair in order to pose as someone who belongs to the secular community of Algiers. Discarding her burka and donning European clothing, she sets out with two other women to plant bombs in public places full of French civilian settlers. As she leaves the Casbah to carry out the retaliatory attack, a French soldier flirts with her, asking if he can join her at the beach. She is later captured alongside Djafar.
Police Chief
The police chief is a leading member of the French colonial police force in Algiers. Following the FLN's coordinated assassination of several police officers, he communicates with higher-ups in Paris, who wish to put more police on the streets. The chief believes this won't work, and is shown planting a bomb in a residential section of the Casbah.
Interrogated Man
The interrogated man is an Arab Algerian featured in the film's opening scene. Emaciated and shaking, the man looks to be completely broken by the French torture tactics. Made to dress in a French uniform, the man resignedly shows the French to Ali's hiding place.
Prisoner
The prisoner is a man who is executed in the same prison that holds Ali. While serving time, Ali sees guards march the Arab Algerian man (and presumed FLN member) as he shouts "Allahu akbar" and "long live Algeria." The French execute the prisoner via guillotine.
