...it's the terrorist's.
Watch the soldier. He's sure that basket contains something important.
And he examines the contents very thoroughly!
Maybe the bomb was here, in a false bottom.
We'll never know.
That's enough, Martin.
We have to start from zero.
We know something of the organization's structure.
Let's start from there. It's a pyramid organization...
...composed of various sections which, in turn...
...are made up of a series of triangles.
At the apex is the Chief of Staff responsible to the political bureau.
He nominates someone to be responsible for one sector: No. 1.
No. 1 selects another two: Nos. 2 and 3.
And so Triangle 1 is formed.
Nos. 2 and 3 each select two men
Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Because of this structure, each member of the organization...
...knows only three other members.
The one who chose him...
...and the two he chose.
Contact is only in writing.
That's why we don't know our enemy.
Because, in fact, they don't know each other.
If we know him, we can eliminate him.
The military angle is secondary.
It's the 'police' side that matters.
I know you dislike that word.
But it's the only one which sums up our task.
We must try to reconstruct...
...the pyramid and identify the Chief.
The basis of our job is information. The method, interrogation.
Conducted in such a way as to ensure we always get an answer.
In this situation, false sentiment leads only to ridicule...
...and impotence.
I'm sure all units understand and will act accordingly.
Unfortunately...
...it doesn't depend just on us. We must have the town at our disposal.
To sift through it...
...and to question everyone.
But we're up against a mass of laws and regulations being enforced...
...as though Algiers was a holiday resort, not a battlefield.
We've asked for carte blanche, but it's difficult to get.
We need an incident which will legalize our actions...
...and make them feasible.
We ourselves must create this opening...
...so our adversaries don't do it for us, as I believe they might.
To all freedom fighters.
After two years...
...of bitter struggle...
...the Algerian people are victorious.
On Monday 28th January...
...the United Nations will debate the Algerian question.
The Organization will mobilize...
...to explain the importance of this to the people.
For eight days from Monday the FLN proclaims a general strike.
There will be no armed action or incidents.
'Le Monde'! Eight-day strike!
My money, please.
Strike!
Brothers, Algerians...
Having tried all methods to avoid a UN debate on Algeria...
...the colonialists insist that the FLN represents only a minority.
World opinion is behind us.
Let us show we are united.
Support the strike proclaimed by the FLN.
For these eight days, do not enter the European quarter.
Stay In the Kasbah. Don't gather in closed places...
...thus facilitating round-ups.
Shelter the poor and homeless in your houses.
Stock up with food and water.
They seem calm. - Yes, but they're restless.
Like rats in a trap... we hope.
Do you think the strike will be.
Certainly.
All going well? - I hope so.
What will you call the operation?
Well, General...
Operation Champagne. - Operation Champagne, why not?
Fine.
They're beggars, unemployed, homeless.
They'll stay here during the strike safe from police sweeps.
But I don't think they ought to have been brought here.
It's a mistake. - Why?
Because you're here. We'd better change the place.
Don't you trust them? - You never know.
All right, you decide.
No. If I made the decisions you wouldn't be in Algiers now.
Why? - It's not prudent.
Ali, go with Ben M'Hidi to the Maison des Arbres.
Isn't he sleeping here? - No. Too many new faces around.
Another one ready.
Look at this for a hideout. Seems like a wall.
Look inside. - No, you must go. It's late.
They're old fighters. You'll be safe.
Hurry, Ali.
The terrace is the shortest way.
All right, you can come.
Fine. They're waiting.
- What's your view on the strike? - It'll succeed.
I think so too. It has been well organized.
But the French?
Obviously, they'll try everything to break it.
They'll do more than that.
We've given them the chance.
Understand what I mean?
Now they'll no longer grope in the dark.
Every striker...
...will be a recognizable enemy...
...a confessed criminal. And they will go over onto the offensive.
Have you thought of that? - No.
Jaffer says you weren't in favour of the strike.
No, neither were my men. - Why not?
Because they say we mustn't use arms.
You don't win wars with outrages.
Neither wars nor revolutions.
Terrorism serves to begin with.
But later, the people themselves must move.
That's the reason behind the need to strike.
To mobilize all Algerians, to count them.
To assess our strength.
To show the UN?
Yes, the UN too.
It might not be much use...
...but at least the UN will be able to see our strength.
You know, Ali...
...it's hard to start a revolution.
Even harder to continue it.
And hardest of all to win it.
But it's only afterwards, when we have won...
...that the true difficulties begin.
In short, there's still much to do.
You are not already tired, Ali? - No.
Wake up!
Attention all vehicles!
Speed up the sweep. Truck No.
No. 3: the port.
Attention...
All suspects to be sent to HQ.
That one.
You, come here. Wait there.
On strike, eh? - I'm not well.
You're too scared to say, but you're with the FLN, aren't you?
What do you take me for?
The FLN wants you to strike and you won't speak?
Please yourself. This one to HQ too, Grard.
You, come here. - Are you deaf?
Move! At the double!
Get a move on!
It's now the fourth day, and the general strike continues.
The town is paralyzed, but there have been no serious incidents.
Calm reigns in the Arab quarter.
I'll call you back.
Mathieu's here.
Colonel... - I'm meeting the Prefect.
What's going on? - I'm just assessing the situation.
Go and look for yourselves. I've put all means at your disposal.
The strike seems successful?
It has missed its main aim - insurrection.
That wasn't its aim. - You believe the FLN?
Maybe. A general strike is convincing at the UN.
The UN is far away. How can it judge a strike's importance?
Bombs get heard. I'd do like them.
What exactly is armed insurrection?
It's an inevitable stage in revolutionary war.
After terrorism, armed insurrection follows. Just as guerrilla tactics...
...precede war proper.
Dien Bien Phu?
Exactly. But in Indo-China they won.
And here? - It depends on you.
On us? You want us to enlist?
God forbid! Just write... and write well.
It's not soldiers we lack. - Then what?
Political will, which is sometimes present, sometimes not.
But sometimes is not enough. What's Paris saying?
Just another article by Sartre.
Why are the Sartres always on the other side?
You don't like Sartre?
No, but I'd like him even less as an enemy.
One, two, three, four... follow me.
Come on, hurry up!
What's going on? - They're singing.
OK. Let's have it. From the start, then you can go.
Name? - Smain.
First name? - Ahmed.
District? - Second.
Be more precise. - No. 2, the Kasbah, Algiers West.
Which group? - Third group.
What was your job? - Responsible for the Sixth Squad.
That'll do.
Day six of the strike.
People of the Kasbah...
The FLN prevents you from working.
The FLN makes you shut your shops.
The FLN wants to starve you and condemn you to misery.
The FLN prevents you from working.
People of the Kasbah...
...France is your motherland.
Muhammed? Muhammed? Have you seen him?
The FLN wants to starve you and condemn you to misery.
People of the Kasbah, rebel against the FLN.
Courage! God be with you.
Courage!
Algerians! Brothers!
Take courage!
Algeria will be free!
Brothers, resist. Don't listen...
...to what they say.
Algeria will be free!
5th February. Last day of the strike.
Open the shop.
Pull!
Faster!
The UN General Assembly...
...after falling to obtain a majority...
...on any motion put forward...
...has decided there will be...
...no direct Intervention in Algeria.
The UN, however, hopes that in a spirit of cooperation...
...a peaceful and just solution will be found...
...in keeping with UN Charter principles.
Good. Well done.
Now we can go to bed.
The end of the strike changes nothing.
Keep the boys on duty.
We must stay in the Kasbah 24 hours a day.
Our work must continue with no let- up.
Any of you had a tapeworm?
It's a worm that grows to infinity.
You can kill thousands of its segments...
...but if the head remains, it immediately reproduces.
The FLN's the same.
The head is the General Staff: several people.
If they are not eliminated, we'll be back to zero. Here are four of them.
I found these in the police files.
I had them enlarged.
Si Mourad.
Ramel.
Jaffer.
Ali la Pointe.
We must print a thousand copies and distribute them to our boys.
Who else lives here?
I told you. My daughter upstairs, and my husband who's at work.
OK, Pierre. Let's go. -All right.
You can come out.
There were a lot - ten this time.
Paratroopers?
Did they come here on purpose?
No, by chance. They only asked questions.
Jibel Amalika has been arrested.
Sheikh Abdullah has been arrested.
People of the Kasbah, the FLN has lost the battle.
Rebel against this dying regime.
Work with us to bulid a new Algeria.
Moujid Ben Ali has been arrested.
What's wrong? - Nothing.
Take courage.
We'll split up. That will improve our chances.
We must keep changing hideouts.
We must replace those arrested...
...and get reorganized.
And make ourselves felt...
As soon as possible.
Now. Leave it to me.
No. None of us.
As long as we exist, the FLN exists.
If we're caught there'll be nothing.
From nothing you get nothing.
Do something.
When we've made new contacts.
How do we move? - We'll change methods.
I'm getting out in three months.
Hey, look. - Halt!
Quick, hide us! We're being followed.
Where? The house is so small.
In the well. God protect you.
Come. The well, it's nearly dry. - Good.
They didn't stop. They've gone and the others are far away.
Thanks.
We'll contact the 2nd and 5th sectors.
The 1st and 6th have had too many losses.
The 3rd and 4th are reorganizing.
It's enough to start with.
25th February, 1957
You bastard! You'll pay for the others!
Keep calm! Get back!
4th March, 1957
Enough photographs.
Mr. Ben M'Hidi...
Isn't it vile to use women's baskets...
...to carry bombs to attack innocent victims?
Isn't it even more vile to drop napalm bombs...
...on defenceless villages, killing thousands more victims?
It would be easier for us if we had planes.
Give me the bombers...
...and you can have the baskets.
Mr. Williams wants to know...
It has more chance than they have...
...of changing the course of history.
Colonel Mathieu has said that you were arrested by chance.
By mistake.
The paratroopers...
...were looking for someone less important than you.
Could you say why you were in that flat...
...in Rue Debussy?
I can only say I wish I hadn't been.
Enough, gentlemen. It's late and we've work to do.
Show over?
Correct.
Before it backfires.
Closed for having taken part in the strike.
People of the Kasbah, the rebellion is petering out.
Ali Mohammed of FLN Sector 2 was killed this morning.
People of Algiers...
Denounce the agitators.
Abandon them.
Count on the protection of the French Army.
Colonel Mathieu...
The spokesman of the Resident Minister, M. Gorlin...
...states that Ben M'Hidi...
...hanged himself in his cell...
...by tearing up his shirt and making it into a rope...
...which he tied to the bars of his window.
Given his stated intention to escape at the first opportunity...
...it was thought necessary...
...to keep the prisoner bound...
...hand and foot at all times.
In your opinion, Colonel...
Is a man in this condition...
...capable of tearing his shirt, making it into a rope...
...and hanging himself with it?
Ask the spokesman about that.
I didn't make the statements.
For my part, I appreciated Ben M'Hidi's moral strength...
...his courage and commitment to his own ideals.
And so, notwithstanding the great danger he represented...
...I pay homage to his memory.
Colonel Mathieu...
There's been much talk, not only of the paras' successes...
...but of the methods they're said to use. Can you say something on this?
I feel that in being excessively careful...
...my colleagues keep asking indirect questions...
...to which you can only reply indirectly.
It would be better to call...
...a spade a spade. If it's torture, let's say so.
I understand. And you? You've no questions?
No, I would merely like some more precise answers.
Let us try to be exact. 'Torture' doesn't appear in our orders.
We use interrogation...
...as the only valid police method against a clandestine organization.
The FLN asks its members...
...to keep silent for 24 hours if they are captured.
Then they can talk.
In that time, the FLN can render any information useless.
And us? How should we question suspects?
Like the courts, taking a few months over it?
Legality can be inconvenient.
Is it legal to blow up public places?
Remember what Ben M'Hidi said when you asked him that.
Believe me, gentlemen, it's a vicious circle.
We could talk for hours to no avail because that is not the problem.
The problem is...
...the FLN want us out of Algeria and we want to stay.
There are different shades of opinion...
...buy I think you all agree we should stay.
When the rebellion began there were no shades of opinion.
All the papers, even the leftist ones, wanted it crushed.
That's why we were sent here.
And we are neither mad nor sadists.
Those who call us "fascists"...
...forget what many of us did in the Resistance.
They call us "Nazis"...
...but some of us are survivors of Dachau and Buchenwald.
We are soldiers. Our duty is to win.
Thus, to be quite clear...
...I'll ask you a question myself.
Must France stay in Algeria?
If the answer's still "yes"...
...then you must accept what that entails.
He's a doctor. Stabbed! - It's horrible!.
Blast! No more ammo!
Look there!
Crush them!
26th August 1957
The Colonel's here.
Don't play the hero. It's futile. Pass me the megaphone.
Ramel! Si Mourad!
Listen.
I wouldn't like to be in your shoes when we get you.
You know we'll get you.
Give yourselves up and you won't be touched. You'll have a fair trial.
Do you hear? - Who's speaking?
Mathieu. Colonel Mathieu.
We don't trust you.
Come closer.
Show yourself.
Why don't you trust us?
Stand, so that we can see you.
With your hands still and in full view.
OK. But we want the promise about the trial in writing.
Give us a written promise. Then we'll surrender.
How?
We'll lower our weapons in a basket.
Fair enough.
Here?
Yes, just there.
Ready, Mathieu? - Yes, but first let's see you.
60... 59... 58...
54... 53... 52...
We can see them now.
Here. You know that when I promise I keep my word.
The pig's tricked us!
Get a move on!
We'll get a move on all right!
Burn all the papers.
24th September 1957
You never know.
Who's Zakia?
You? - Yes.
Go up and tell Jaffer to surrender...
...or I'll blow up the house.
Convince him if you value your house.
Understood? - Yes.
Wait, or he'll kill you.
Jaffer! Zakia's coming up! Don't shoot.
Go now.
Jaffer, I'm Zakia.
Listen to me. They say if you don't come down...
...they'll blow up the house.
Tell the Colonel he can blow up what he likes.
Go, I said!
He won't surrender. He says: go ahead.
OK. Join the others.
Prepare the plastic. As near as possible.
Use a long fuse. We'll cut it later.
Give them continuous cover while they work.
You, keep your eyes open. Anything can happen, as we know.
It's quite pointless to die like this.
Mathieu! If you give me your word not to touch anyone in this house...
...we'll come down.
I'd have hated to blow it up.
Why?
Your picture and your file...
...have been on my table for ages.
I feel I know you quite well.
You don't seem the type for empty gestures.
You seem happy to have me alive.
Yes, I am.
Evidently I've given you an unexpected advantage.
No, only the satisfaction of having guessed right.
Technically...
...there is no longer an advantage. It's over.
What's she saying?
She says there's still Ali la Pointe.
I'm coming.
I'll be right back.
Go to bed, Omar.
Tomorrow there'll be just us.
Mahmoud... Hassiba...
...me and you.
No one else is left. Sadek will drive.
Get out, place the bomb...
...and return quickly.
Mind they don't follow you. Then we'll get out.
Hassiba, followed by Mahmoud and then me.
Wake up.
You'll see some fireworks today.
Nearly time, isn't it? - Yes.
Hassiba! - I'm ready.
I heard a truck.
So did I. But if it was Sadek he'd be here now.
How's your wife? - The same.
Inside! Inside!
Outside, you! Get up!
Well? - All ready. I've evacuated the house.
Has he replied? - Nothing. Absolute silence.
I thought as much.
Ali la Pointe!
At least get the others out. You know we'll blow you up.
The boy will only go to the reformatory.
Why let him die?
He's still here? Get him out.
Ali, I'll give you thirty seconds. What do you hope for?
Anyway, you've already lost.
Think hard. Thirty seconds from now.
Who wants to go out?
What will you do? - I won't bargain.
You four stay here and go down when I signal.
Well? - All ready, General.
Get back.
You two cover him and take care.
Now the tapeworm's headless.
Satisfied, Mathieu? - Yes, sir.
The FLN in Algiers is decapitated. - I think we'll hear no more of it.
At least for the time being. - For ever, we hope.
After all, they're good people. We got on well for 130 years.
Why couldn't it continue? - Algeria is not just Algiers.
No, Algiers isn't all of Algeria.
That's true, but for now let's be content with Algiers.
Things are much easier in the mountains.
Goodbye, General.
Goodbye, Mathieu. We'll see you at HQ this afternoon.
Yes, sir.
11th December 1960
It is not known why, nor the pretext for it...
...but after two years of relative quiet...
...with the war just continuing...
...mostly in the mountains, trouble has broken out again.
Nobody knows why or how.
I've phoned Tunis.
I spoke personally with the FLN in exile, but they know nothing.
This morning for the first time...
...their green and white flags have appeared.
Thousands of flags...
...probably sewn overnight.
It's hard to call them flags. They're sheets, shirts, rags...
...but flags nevertheless.
It's very tense today.
Despite pressure...
...from extreme colonialists, the government has given orders...
...not to use arms except as a last resort.
Today attempts were made to break into the European quarter.
There were many deaths, but calm has now returned.
However, the Kasbah still echoes with those strange cries.
Rhythmic, nightmarish.
The surprising unanimity of these demonstrations...
...has had a marked effect on French public opinion.
According to Paris, the more sensitive political groups...
...are gravitating towards better relations with Algeria.
21st December 1960. Last day of demonstrations.
Listen to me!
Return to your homes!
What do you want?
Two more years of struggle were still to pass.
Then, on 2nd July 1962 Independence was won...
...and the Algerian nation was born.
THE END