“We’re going to the Casbah now. They won’t recognize you in that.”
In the film's opening scene, an emaciated and shaken Arab Algerian man sits in his underpants surrounded by French paratroopers. Having finally broken down from tortuous interrogation, the man has given away FLN leader Ali La Pointe's hiding place. But before he can lead the soldiers into the Casbah, he must put on clothes. As a final humiliation, the French give him one of their military uniforms to wear, claiming that this way he will pass unnoticed in the Islamic quarter from which the FLN has been conducting operations. The receives the enemy uniform with a look of disbelief, knowing the French have well and truly broken him.
“Give us your bombers, and you can have our baskets.”
Based on the real-life historical figure who was one of the founding members of the FLN, Ben M’Hidi takes questions from reporters following his capture. One reporter questions the tactics used by the National Liberation Front, suggesting that using women to deliver bombs is inherently cowardly. M'Hidi compares their tactics to the use of napalm in Vietnam, which killed many more thousands of innocent people. In this quote, M'Hidi implies that the FLN, as a group with far less in the way of resources than hegemonic powers, would gladly trade women's baskets for bomber planes. The quote is significant because it shows how French media bias against the FLN fails to recognize the hypocrisy of France's much greater capacity for violence as a major world power.
“You know, Ali, it’s hard to start a revolution. Ever harder to continue it. And hardest of all to win it. But it’s only afterwards, when we have won, that the true difficulties begin.”
When a general strike is declared in support of Algerian independence, Ali meets M’Hidi to speak about M'Hidi's rationale for organizing the strike. In their conversation, M'Hidi declares that the strike is necessary if the FLN wants to unite all Algerians against the French. He also believes the strike will garner the attention of the UN. In this quote, M'Hidi emphasizes the difficulty of instigating a revolution, which only brings about more difficulty. Implicit in his statement is that the struggle for independence is a long-term goal that necessitates strategies other than assassinations and terrorism.
“We aren't madmen or sadists, gentlemen. Those who call us fascists today, forget the contribution that many of us made to the Resistance. Those who call us Nazis don't know that among us there are survivors of Dachau and Buchenwald."
During a press conference to address M'Hidi's alleged suicide while in French custody, Mathieu rails against the media's scrutiny of his torture-based interrogation methods. In this quote, Mathieu reminds the press that many of the paratroopers serving under him were Resistance fighters in the Second World War. This passage is significant because it shows how Mathieu fails to perceive the hypocrisy of his role: once the valiant soldier resisting the occupying force of the Nazis, he is now the violent oppressor of a colony struggling for independence. Rather than come to terms with the irony of his position, Mathieu uses his past valor as an excuse for his present cruelty.
"It’s an unknown, unrecognizable enemy, which blends in with the people. It is everywhere."
Upon arriving in Algiers to lead a counter-attack against the FLN, Mathieu shows his men footage of Casbah checkpoints and discusses the enemies. While he concedes that not all Arab Algerians are their enemy, and that the FLN represent a minority, he speaks of how the FLN blend in with regular residents of the Casbah. The words of this quote are ironic given the footage playing behind Mathieu as he speaks: as people move through the checkpoints, the audience sees the female FLN members responsible for the recent bombings. Mathieu and his men, however, cannot detect them, as they have blended in with the people.
“Maybe the bomb was there, in a false bottom. We’ll never know.”
During his first address to his soldiers in Algiers, Mathieu analyzes footage taken at Casbah checkpoints. He pokes fun at an incident in which soldiers harass an Arab man to show them what's inside the box he is carrying. The man struggles against the invasion of privacy, leading to a slapstick humiliation in which he fumbles his possessions to the ground. The soldiers watching with Mathieu laugh at the scene. However, Mathieu undermines their smug enjoyment by reminding them that the man managed to leave the checkpoint with his box only cursorily searched. Therefore, he could have had one of the bombs with him. With this statement, the soldiers in the room fall silent, remembering the stakes of their mission.
"We are soldiers and our only duty is to win. Thus, to be quite clear, I’ll ask you a question myself. Must France stay in Algeria? If the answer’s still ‘yes,’ then you must accept what that entails."
When reprimanding the press for scrutinizing his torture tactics, Mathieu concludes his statement with an ultimatum: if the media and the public to whom they report wish for Algeria to remain a French colony, then they have no choice but to support his tactics, however cruel. This quote is significant because it reveals how, with the tide of public opinion turning against him, Mathieu doubles down on his campaign. In this blunt statement, he makes clear that there is nothing benevolent about the French colonial occupation of Algeria, and he will not pretend any longer that they are doing anything but crushing their enemy.
Long live Algeria!
While serving time in prison, Ali witnesses the execution of a fellow Arab prisoner. When guards walk the man through the prison to the guillotine, he shouts this phrase, eliciting responses of the same from other Algerians. This quote is significant because it suggests the prisoner was a member of the FLN and that the French guards were making an example of him by brutally decapitating in front of other potential converts. However, the execution serves to radicalize Ali, who joins the FLN upon his release.
"No one can do as they want in the Casbah anymore!"
After the FLN imposes a ban on vices within the Casbah, Ali confronts Hassan, a man who refuses to abide by the FLN's rules. Ali gives Hassan one last chance to join; when Hassan lunges toward him, Ali opens fire, murdering Hassan in front of his men. Instead of killing the others, Ali sends them away with this message. The quote is significant because it shows how the FLN uses violence to take control of the Casbah and establish it as a base from which to operate—even if that violence involves killing other Algerians.
Two more years of struggle were still to pass. Then, on July 2, 1962, independence was won and the Algerian nation was born.
The film ends with footage of pro-independence protesters waving green and white Algerian flags and pushing back walls of police. From a voiceover, the viewer learns that the reignited opposition in 1960 would precipitate Algeria's eventual independence in 1962. With this optimistic coda, Pontecorvo implies that the events depicted in the film were, for all their violence and destruction, antecedents to Algeria's liberation from French colonial occupation.
