The Battle of Algiers

“I'd heard bits about The Battle of Algiers and knew I wanted to see it; I'm a big fan of Peter Watkins's The Battle of Culloden and the whole mock-doc/social-realist filmmaking aesthetic. It makes interesting counterprogramming to our understanding through modern media of the difference between 'freedom fighters' and 'terrorists.'”

Ben Wheatley

Director, Writer

“I was twenty-four years old when I made my first film, 'Pusher' (about the Danish drug underworld), and for it I stole everything I could, both visually and technically, from this film and 'Cannibal Holocaust.'”

Nicolas Winding Refn

Director, Producer, Writer

“No film has ever captured the chaos and fear of an uprising as vividly as The Battle of Algiers.”

Christopher Nolan

Director, Producer, Writer

“I don't know how he made this movie, except that he used the real people. This is where Soderbergh learned half of his shit.”

James Franco

Actor, Comedian, Director

“"The Battle of Algiers is a film I just think is the most extraordinary accomplishment and such an effective political piece, and so beautiful. It completely bewilders me every time I see it, how it was accomplished."”

Sarah Polley

Actor, Director

“Hugely influential film. Ennio Morricone's first score.”

Hans Zimmer

Composer

“Man, this film rocked my world. I saw this in film school. You cannot say you are a film aficionado if you have not seen this film.”

Zeinabu irene Davis

Director

“Favorite movie of all time, next to Belly.”

Garrett Bradley

Director

“The vitality of Pontecorvo's film—I mean, it's a unique political film, but the vitality is extraordinary. And I can remember being in little theaters in Los Angeles, there'd be revolutionaries photographing off the screen how to create a revolution, literally.”

Philip Kaufman

Director

“The Battle of Algiers — one of my favorite films of all time.”

Riz Ahmed

Actor