Just finished "Battle of Algiers" - Holy Shit! Parallels to Iraq

are just mind-boggling! Even the use of "torture" to gain information on who the insurgents were, etc.

If you want to have a very deep understanding of the colonial mind versus an Islamic nation, run to your video store and rent this film.

It is outstanding. I know others on this board have recommended it before and that is why I got it.

It is black and white and made in 1966 but has been called the best political film of all time.

There are many articles on the web about it's amazing comparisons to the current situation in Iraq. Even French sentiment toward the occupation changed after torture was revealed. The French never won the "hearts and minds" of the Algerian people either.

It's a great movie and I think everyone who wants to gain a better understanding of colonial war like the current one in Iraq should see this movie.

It's powerful and a must see movie for everyone really.

Haven't seen it in a long time but going to rent it.

they had a running of this movie in the military prior to the war

To teach them what NOT to do???

to show them how it needed to be done. we arent the good guys. they went into this with this intent. was said out loud not following geneva. showing the movie.

we, the world were told ahead of time. we just didnt listen, didnt believe, didnt remember

:scared: Germany beefed up their infrastructure before invading other countries. Besides that, too many similarities. History does indeed repeat.

and was it based on a book ? if so, is the book worth reading ?

You're not the only one who saw parallels between Algeria and Iraq. The Pentagon did too, so much so that they recently held a screening of that film for a bunch of military and civilian government experts.

And there's one major difference between the French in Algeria and us in Iraq: the French had been there for well over a century by the time the indigenous Arabs began rebelling, so much so that many people considered Algeria a part of France just like Hawaii is part of America, and there was a very established French residential population. On the other hand, we only went into Iraq just last year.

If the Algerians were ready to boot the French even after having lived with them for so long, imagine how much less tolerance the Iraqis will have for Americans who just invaded.

time??

some connection with de Gaulle??

and terrorism in France??