--- title: "The Battle of Algiers: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers" critics_score: 95 critics_reviews: 6 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Battle of Algiers (1966): what the critics said Critics' score 95 from 6 reviews: 6 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. The consensus is strongly positive, with praise centred on Pontecorvo’s documentary-like reconstruction and the force of its political drama. Critics repeatedly single out the newsreel-style photography, the sense of events unfolding rather than being staged, and the attention to individuals within the uprising. The reviews also agree that its depictions of violence on both sides create compassion without softening the brutality, while its suspense makes the political detail gripping rather than dutiful. There is little substantive dissent in these accounts, and no recurring reservation emerges. The differences concern how critics describe the film’s political stance: Radio Times stresses its refusal to condemn or condone, while Film Comment emphasises clear sympathies alongside an unromanticised account of resistance and escalation. Some reviews foreground the reconstruction’s realism; others place greater weight on its analysis of urban revolt and the human cost of repression. ## Radio Times — David Parkinson Rating 5/5. The critic describes it as a stark and compelling drama and compassionate masterpiece of political analysis with much contemporary resonance. Its strengths include a cinéma-vérité approach that refuses to condemn or condone while balancing aggression with terrorism and depicting honorable individuals on both sides. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-5tdzuh/the-battle-of-algiers/) ## Time Out — Dave Calhoun Rating 5/5. 8 May 2007. The critic finds Pontecorvo’s stirring anatomy of an urban uprising strikingly relevant today and superb and unrivalled. It effectively moulds political commentary with drama through its mournful tone, journalistic approach and intimate details amid grand-scale reconstruction. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-battle-of-algiers-1) ## Sight and Sound — Michael Brooke Fi1m's normalised score 95/100 (inferred from the text). The critic calls it unquestionably the greatest political film ever made. It is riveting as a suspense thriller and rigorously clear-eyed in its presentation of atrocities committed by both sides, with uncanny relevance to how terrorist cells operate. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/6f9488ef-f914-594e-b76b-dce7143c8522/the-battle-of-algiers) ## Empire — David Parkinson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 27 April 2007. The critic hails the film as a technical and dramatic masterclass that retains its power to shock and provoke long after its original release. Pontecorvo's neo-realistic approach, with its non-professional cast and newsreel-like style, is singled out for creating genuine compassion amid depictions of violence on both sides. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/battle-algiers-review/) ## Film Comment — Mark Harris The critic highlights the film's enduring status as a radical, documentary-style depiction of colonial revolt and urban guerrilla tactics that resonated with 1960s radicals. Pontecorvo is praised for balancing clear sympathies with an unromanticized, blunt portrayal of violence and escalation in resistance movements. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/cinema-67-revisited-battle-algiers/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert 30 May 1968. Pontecorvo's film is a great, deeply realistic reconstruction of the Algerian struggle that succeeds in feeling like actual events. It is passionate yet neutral, showing the cost of violence and torture on both sides with universal relevance. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-battle-of-algiers-1968) ## Slant Magazine — Glenn Heath Jr. 1 July 2012. The critic calls it great protest art and possibly the greatest film on insurrection, praising its hybrid documentary-narrative realism that captures the Algerian fight for independence with stirring detail and evenhandedness toward both sides' tactics and atrocities. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-battle-of-algiers/) ## The New Yorker — Brendan Gill 16 September 1967. Pontecorvo's film is the best of its kind, a brilliantly convincing reconstruction charged with authentic strong emotion and a redeeming purity of intention. It tells a tragic story of murder, torture and retribution on both sides while doing justice to history and art. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1967/09/23/truthtelling) ## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther 21 September 1967. The film is an uncommonly dynamic and gripping re-enactment of the Algerian rebellion against the French, with extraordinary photographic virtuosity that makes it look like authentic documentary footage. It stands out for its literal and naturalistic account of intra-urban guerrilla warfare. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1967/09/21/archives/screen-local-premiere-of-pontecorvos-prizewinning-battle-of.html) ## Variety 31 December 1965. Festival review. The film is a graphic, straightforward, realistic re-enactment of events leading to Algerian independence, the first feature made in Algiers by Algerians with Italian talent. It is a dedicated effort with importance as a document, blending restaged scenes with newsreel clips for authentic flavor. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1965/film/reviews/the-battle-of-algiers-1200421020/) ## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 11 May 2007. The critic describes it as an unforgettable, absorbing and hard-hitting piece of cinema that provides a balanced and accurate account of the Algerian revolution, praising its lush black and white photography and score while noting its powerful message about the horror of suffering on both sides. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-battle-of-algiers-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## HeyUGuys — Rob Keeling Rating 4.5/5. 6 July 2012. The critic praises the film's powerful and objective depiction of the Algerian struggle for independence, highlighting its realistic portrayal of violence on both sides and its lasting relevance. They single out the balanced account and the immersive, documentary-like style for praise. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-battle-of-algiers-blu-ray-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md