The Battle of Algiers(EM Retro)

In the vein of Italian Neorealism, Gillo Pontecorvo, who worked as a journalist and documentary director, adopted the hand-held camera style, with a group of non-professional actors and Casbah as the shooting location. The film stares into the colonial history of the Algerian War and goes beyond binary opposition of right and wrong and reveals the brutal cost of fighting violence with violence. Morricone uses martial music, orchestra and indigenous Algerian drumming to show the tension of the confrontation; the thunderous shouting of the crowd reminiscent of the howling of coyotes in Western films.

Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival