In The Battle of Algiers, who plays the revolutionary leader Ali La Pointe?

Brahim Hadjadj plays revolutionary leader Ali La Pointe in The Battle of Algiers.

Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 film dramatizes the Algerian struggle against French colonial rule, focusing on the urban insurgency in Algiers during the late 1950s. Ali La Pointe is portrayed as a working-class man who becomes involved with the National Liberation Front, or FLN.

Hadjadj was a nonprofessional performer, as were several people in the cast. Saadi Yacef, an FLN veteran, served as a producer and played El-hadi Jaffar, a fictionalized revolutionary organizer. Jean Martin, the principal professional actor, plays French paratroop commander Colonel Mathieu.

The film uses documentary-style camerawork and newsreel-like presentation, but it is a dramatic reconstruction rather than original news footage. Its depiction of urban guerrilla tactics, counterinsurgency, and civilian life made it an influential political war film.