7pm *FREE*
The Battle of Algiers
(La Battaglia di Algeri, Gillo Pontecorvo, Italy/Algeria, in French, Arabic and English w/ Eng. St. 121 min., 35mm, 1966)
One of the most influential political films in history, The Battle of Algiers vividly recreates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés, and French soldiers resort to torture to break the will of the insurgents. Shot in the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film is a case study in modern warfare.
9h30pm *FREE*
Iraq in Fragments
(James Longley, US, 110 min., 35mm, 2006)
A series of intimate, passionately-felt portraits: A fatherless 11-year-old is apprenticed to the domineering owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rally for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes the US presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied. Director James Longley spent more than two years filming in Iraq to create this stunningly photographed, poetically rendered documentary of the war-torn country.
“Iraq in Fragments” will also be shown at the UWM Union Theater on Wednesday, as part of the DocUquarium series and on Thursday.
