In this sense, The Battle of Algiers is much more about characterization than it first appears. The “production” of space, as Henri Lefebvre writes, is a society's way of establishing its “reality” (Lefebvre 53) 3. Since the city is a character, success in the fight becomes less a question of possessing the city than forming and being formed by that space. While one might imagine that the side that wins the battle in Algiers has control of the city, this isn't necessarily the case in the film. It is precisely here that the social dimension of form emerges, revolving around the inflection rather than the simple reflection of characters (Woloch 18) The space of a particular character emerges only vis-à-vis the other characters who crowd him out or potentially revolve around him. The character and the city inform each other in the same way that Woloch describes character-spaces emerging in literary texts as a result of their interaction with each other: In this sense, Algiers is a “character-space” in its own right. In the film narrative of The Battle of Algiers, not only do characters change the space around them, but the city itself shapes the characters. Essentially the character emerges through his or her relation to other characters within the narrative. While the first is the “encounter between an individual human personality and a determined space within narrative as a whole” the second is “the arrangement of multiple and differentiated character-spaces…in to a unified narrative structure” (Woloch 14). the Many 2, characterization is the intersection of a “character-space” and a “character system” (Woloch 14). In order to understand how characterization might work in relationship to space in the film, one must first understand how characters are inflected and reflected by this space. The city is not only a battleground for the warring French and Algerian sides, but it is also a catalyst for the emergence of a political Algerian identity. The use of setting in character development, common in cinema, takes on a specific meaning in The Battle of Algiers the space of the city doesn't just reflect a character but reveals that character's agency. Analyzing how the camera films the city (including the space between characters and the space between the characters and the spectator) reveals this characterization. The power struggle revolves around control of the city, but more important to the outcome of the film is the way in which characters manipulate space and are also formed by this space. Throughout the film one finds that the representation of characters is directly linked to the representation of Algiers. The conflict in the film isn't about people fighting for Algiers, rather the preposition “of” shows how the city itself is involved in the dispute the film is about Algiers's battle. The film's title reveals its historical context and indicates that the action will take place in the disputed space of the capital city but more importantly the title refers to the film's process of characterization. In Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers, however, the city plays a much more important role than that of a simple background. Despite its different incarnations, the cinematic Algiers always seems to bear an inscription of the French and Algerian conflict. The cinema has cast Algiers in many different roles from the eroticized colonial world of Pépé le Moko to the majestically crumbling façade of Bab el-Oued City 1. Return to Equinoxes, Issue 5: Printemps/Eté 2005Īrticle ©2005, Noëlle Giguère Noëlle Giguère, Emory University Characterizing the City: Space and Identity in The Battle of Algiers
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