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Monday, Nov 9, 2009
A former revolutionary and star of the newly rereleased "The Battle of Algiers" talks to Salon about that film's influence on the Pentagon -- and says he supports Iraqis who attack GIs.
Jan 9, 2004 | Fifty years ago, Saadi Yacef was an Algerian revolutionary fighting France for his country's independence, planting bombs to kill French occupiers, including civilians, and hiding in the raw sewage of Turkish toilets when the authorities came looking for him. The French government went so far as to ban "The Battle of Algiers" -- a movie Yacef produced and starred in, based on a book he wrote about the insurrection -- soon after the film's 1965 release, due to its subversive nature.
How times have changed. Today, Yacef is an Algerian senator. "The Battle of Algiers" -- which has long been a cult classic, a favorite of professors of postcolonialism and your typical revolutionary types -- is recommended viewing for officials at the Pentagon, which held a private screening of the film in August. Officials described it as an illustration of "how to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas." As former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski told an audience in October, "If you want to understand what's happening right now in Iraq, I recommend 'The Battle of Algiers.'"
Because of the film's newfound relevance, its distributor, Rialto Pictures, is rereleasing the movie Friday at theaters in New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles. Yacef now has a French publicist who guides eager members of the press under the gilded ceilings and gleaming chandeliers to his posh digs at New York's Plaza Hotel. At 75, Yacef doesn't look much different from the handsome, charismatic figure preserved in the grainy black and white film. It's tough to reconcile the fact that this man, dressed in a black sports coat and turtleneck, armed with a warm smile and quick laugh, once helped kill French civilians on a daily basis.
While the film was not a documentary, Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo didn't use any professional actors to portray the Algerian rebels; instead he chose to use average Algerians, for whom the memory of winning independence, which finally happened in 1962, was still fresh and poignant. Many of the scenes were shot in the exact locations in which the original historical event occurred. The cinéma vérité style of Pontecorvo's handheld camera makes it feel like you're watching history. But it has been most widely praised for successfully capturing the complex moral dilemmas faced by both the occupiers and the occupied, who feel driven to terrorist acts. As critic Pauline Kael wrote, "'The Battle of Algiers' is probably the only film that has ever made middle-class audiences believe in the necessity of bombing innocent people."
So what does Yacef think of the terrorist tactics by Islamist militants today? He condemned much -- in particular the Sept. 11 attacks -- as blind hatred without a just cause. Yet on the subject of the attacks against American soldiers in Iraq, he seemed to waiver. When asked if the cause of Iraqi insurgents was just, Yacef at first said yes, then seemed to hesitate. He stated that he himself opposed Saddam, but complained that the process of transforming Iraq into a democracy ruled by Iraqis was taking too long, keeping the country plunged in chaos. In the end, Yacef's sympathies seem to more naturally align with the insurgent force.
Salon spoke to Yacef, with the help of a translator, about how the film and his experiences are relevant to the U.S. involvement in Iraq today.
When you helped make this film, did you think "The Battle of Algiers" would be still be considered relevant 40 years later?
I never imagined the film would have this kind of resiliency and popularity 40 years later. When I made the film, I was sure that it would be a classic and last for a very, very long time. But now, 40 years later, for example with the Pentagon, the film has another aspect: It brings to light our war in Algeria with the war -- and I'm going to call it a war -- in Iraq. And it enables us to look at the two situations and see, are there things we can draw from the Algerian experience, mistakes or errors that were made.
What kinds of lessons do you think the United States should learn from the film?
It's important to note that the war that took place in Algeria is not the same as what took place in Iraq. The reasons are different -- although the real reason [for the U.S. occupation], I don't know what it is. But there are lessons to be learned. For example, the Americans shouldn't stay there for a long time. Because what will happen is, from a very small, small resistance, it will spread over time like an oil spill spreads, further and further. What will happen is that the Iraqis, the different groups, the Shiites, the Kurds, will end up uniting and developing a nationalistic attitude in order to get rid of the U.S., the outsider.
In Iraq now, the GI's and the marines are very brave soldiers who have been trained to fight a real war as real soldiers -- and now they've become police. The style of fighting is very different. This is what happened with us, in our country, with the French. General Jacques Massau -- who is Colonel Mathieu in the movie -- he commanded a very large army that was sent to the capital city, Algiers. He was in effect a policeman, and his army became an army of police. He was granted all special powers. They gradually engaged in activities like torture and murder, and these were things that over time created a feeling of malaise that led to the downfall of the Fourth Republic. Among the soldiers who were based there, there were many who were deserters, many who committed suicide. A great deal of the families of these soldiers were receiving letters at home that their sons had been killed there ... If the United States stays in Iraq, this definitely may be what happens.
But at the same time, if the Americans leave, that would be a very dramatic thing for the Iraqi people. Then, as a civil war, the Iraqis would begin to kill each other. There would be thousands of deaths that way. My opinion is based on having fought for many years against 400,000 European occupiers in the country and 80,000 soldiers. I can tell you right now that if the army were to come into this room right now, I would be able to hide myself, and they wouldn't find me. [Laughs.]
