Ep# 77 - Christopher J. Lee's 60s Picks: Battle of Algiers & Black Girl

Bart and Jenna are rarely afraid to dive headfirst into uncharted areas of cinema, but certain movies are just too important for them to toss around in their usual subjective way. Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers is one such landmark work that seems irresponsible to discuss without a maximum amount of context. That’s why Cinema60 invited African Studies and Decolonization scholar Christopher J. Lee to the podcast to help them unpack the history and politics of the film and the events that it depicts.

In addition, Chris wanted to talk about Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl, another film from 1966 with a very different, but equally harsh, perspective on French colonialism in Africa. The two films, taken together, give a well-rounded visualization of the revolutionary ideas of political philosopher Frantz Fanon, whose thoughts got to the heart much of the social upheaval of the era. Listen as Chris gives a global backdrop to the rebellious spirit that inspired the big changes in the way people governed themselves, and in the way they made movies, in the mid-20th century.

The following films are discussed:

• The Battle of Algiers (1966)
La battaglia di Algeri
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
Starring Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi

• Black Girl (1966)
La noire de...
Directed by Ousmane Sembène
Starring Mbissine Thérèse Diop, Anne-Marie Jelinek, Robert Fontaine

Also mentioned:

• The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Directed by D.W. Griffith
Starring Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall

• De Voortrekkers (a.k.a. Winning a Continent) (1916)
Directed by Harold M. Shaw
Starring Dick Cruikshanks, Caroline Frances Cooke, Jackie Turnbull

• Rome, Open City (1945)
Roma città aperta
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Starring Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero

• Paisan (1946)
Paisà
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Starring Carmela Sazio, Gar Moore, William Tubbs

• Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Ladri di biciclette
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
Starring Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell

• Cry, the Beloved Country (1951)
Directed by Zoltan Korda
Starring Canada Lee, Sidney Poitier, Charles Carson

• Le petit soldat (1961)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Starring Anna Karina, Michel Subor, Henri-Jacques Huet

• Cléo from 5 to 7 (1963)
Cléo de 5 à 7
Directed by Agnès Varda
Starring Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dominique Davray

• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Les parapluies de Cherbourg
Directed by Jacques Demy
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon

• Nanny (2022)
Directed by Nikyatu Jusu
Starring Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls

Books discussed:

• The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942)

• Prison Notebooks by Antonio Gramchi (1947)

• Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon (1952)

• God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène (1960)

• The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (1961)

• Frantz Fanon: Toward A Revolutionary Humanism by Christopher J. Lee (2015)