Violence In The Battle Of Algiers

Historically, violence has been a major tool used for multiple purposes in any and every society. Whether or not the use of violence is necessary in a society can be debatable, however, what we see throughout history is that violence is an important component especially when it comes to dominant societies taking away from the disadvantaged societies, such as land. One main consequence of this are the negative impact it has on the people that live in these societies. Their only two options is to conform to the new system emplaced by the conquerors or to revolt. But how exactly do the revolutionaries of a society go about gaining their country back, especially those with limited options? According to Dictionary.com, terrorism is defined as “the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes”. In the movie The Battle of Algiers, directed by
He portrays a small group of rebels known as the National Liberation Front of Algiers (FLN) whom wanted to fight against colonialism, beginning the movement towards independence by killing French police officers. After a series of attacks, the police officers responded by bombing the Arab quarter in Algiers known as the Casbah, killing multiple residents in the area, including children. This in turn lead to the FLN to bomb three locations in the European quarters. The French responded by the bringing the paratroopers whose commander, Colonel Mathieu, to break down the movement by killing the leaders of the FLN, which he finds who they are through the use of torture. In the end Colonel Mathieu kills all of the leaders of the FLN, however soon after the killing of the Final FLN leader standing, the people of Algiers begin a riot. After a long and hard fight the people of Algiers eventually win their country