"Left hand Hate K.O.ed by Love..."

Radio Raheem. Undoubtably my favorite character from the entire film. From the moment he was introduced, I was all about Radio Raheem. Maybe it was the Public Enemy that did it for me, maybe it was the way that Radio seemed to command the neighborhood without saying a single word, maybe it was the fact that he looks remarkably like a friend of mine who goes to Kennedy, but it was something.

When Klob first mentioned how people didn't feel affected by Radio Raheem's death, I was extremely confused. Apparently most people who watch the film don't feel the same way that I do about Radio. First off, I find him likable. I can understand how people would just write him off as a hoodlum, but I don't see it that way. He's just a kid who wants to do his own thing without anyone getting in the way. To me, he seems like a pretty decent guy. The part where I most bonded with Radio Raheem's character was during his Love/Hate monologue. It was an absolutely amazing speech. I never expected such eloquent speech from a character who said almost nothing. The way he described the fight between love and hate was nearly spellbinding.

So when Radio Raheem was murdered, I felt it. To me, it was as if Mookie or Da Mayor had been murdered. To watch my favorite character's murder was even physically impactful for me. In my naivete, I thought that everyone else must have felt the same as I did, felt the same sympathy for Radio Raheem and his untimely demise. But as we began to discuss the film, I saw that this was not the case. People didn't seem to be affected by the death hardly at all. People saw the murder as another loss of life. But it was so much more than just a loss of life. It was murder. It was a life that is no longer continuing. It was a best friend, a son just gone. Radio Raheem's murder cannot just be overlooked or brushed away.

Maybe I'm a little crazy about this, but that's fine by me. In Spike Lee's commentary, he mentioned how often Radio Raheem's death was written off or not mentioned at all. I felt like he was coming from the same place that I am. But even in class, we talked about what exactly Lee did that made us feel less sympathy for Radio Raheem. I'm beginning to babble because I'm tired and I can't make my words express my thoughts well enough to be eloquent anymore. My point is that, even though some people say that the film-viewers were set up to not feel much compassion for Radio Raheem, I didn't see it that way. He was my favorite character and his death (not just his death, his murder) will stick unpleasantly in my mind for quite some time.

Acts of Violence Don't Win Wars

In response to the article from the Washington Post:

A lot of what was mentioned in the review from the Washington Post were things that we talked about in class. They focused on the balance between the warring sides, how Pontecorvo managed to tell the story of the battle of Algiers without (as Klob would say) "beating you over the head" with one side of the confrontation. This was a really important part of the film The Battle of Algiers. While I was watching it, I was thinking about the villain of the film (as I so often do). Although the French are the bad guys in this film, I found it hard to despise their villain-ness, something that is usually very easy to do. The fact is that these people were doing their job. They were using war tactics to accomplish what they needed to accomplish. While I could feel a general disdain for the French in the film, I couldn't manage to loathe them.

The article also commended Pontecorvo's style and ideas when it came to making the film. Although the film wasn't meant to be a documentary, it had the feel of one with hand-held cameras and newsreel film. Even in the documentary snippets we watched in class, it showed how realistic Pontecorvo made the film. Scenes in the movie almost doubled scenes that took place in real life. Part of this effectiveness was the fact that he shot on scene. The film really does take place in the Casbah and the characters really are Algerians. Like we've mentioned time and time again, the only professional actor was the one portraying Colonel Mathieu. Everyone else was either picked up off the street for their memorable faces or had actually been a part of the revolutionary movement.

Overall, this article gave deserved praise to the film The Battle of Algiers. To this day it is a timely piece of film literature. I enjoyed this film immensely, it made people talk. It brought up controversy and issues, often a mark of quality. Unfortunately, it also subjected me to watching torture at 8:30 in the morning....not my cup of tea.