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Reviews
Los chicos de la guerra (1984)
Still worth watching after 23 years
I saw this film when it first came out in 1984, only two years after the Falklands War. Twenty-three years later it's still worth watching - the effect of war on three young conscripts carrying the expectations of their parents and their country into a battle for which they are completely unprepared is very moving.
This was the first film made in Argentina about the Falklands War, and I suppose it was one of the first films made after the return of Argentina to democracy. Although little is spelled out, it is evident that the real conflict is not between the Argentines and the British - who are hardly visible - but between the ordinary population of Argentina and the regime which sent young men to the Falklands with no supplies and no visible leadership.
La battaglia di Algeri (1966)
Still the best film ever
I watched this film for the first time in the 1970s, and again on DVD last night.
For me it is still the best film I have ever seen: technical originality together with a subject and treatment which portray and illuminate issues. Unfortunately, terrorism, counter-terrorism, revolution, torture and Islam, which were seen in Algeria fifty years ago, are still on the agenda in 2006.
On the DVD, Pontecorvo explains in an interview how he recreated the effect of newsreel footage. Every scene was staged for the film, and every detail choreographed; even the bright sunlight of Algiers was softened with white sheets. The result is a visual masterpiece which stands the test of time.