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Originally Posted by george kaplan
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| as the event is historical and since we know the outcome in advance, there really can’t be any suspense—it would be an artistic error to even attempt such a spin |
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True enough that
The Battle of Algiers is not a documentary and does not follow the truth with 100% accuracy.
Now even if you, like me first saw this movie when it was released, we are now viewing it 45 years after the events depicted and very far removed geographically and culturally. But when it was first shown in 1965 in Italy, the events that constituted the movie were very recent—the specific events happened in 1957 and the overall war was not over until 1962. Further, this was an Italian made movie with an European audience, who were well aware of the general unrest that occurred during the end of the colonial period and even more so of specific, seminal events that marked turning points in attempted rebellions (or liberation movements, depending on perspective). After all, Rome is closer to Algiers (536 miles) than Dallas is to El Paso (572 miles).
Given the currency of the bombings, the geographic proximity and general knowledge of the events extant in the target audience, it is not reasonable to suppose that any attempt at suspense would be successful. The audience knows that the bombs are going to go off in those locations and kill and wound civilians. Attempts to suggest that something else would happen, just would not be credible when this movie was made—most especially in Italy.