This iconic war epic, widely recognised as one of the most influential political films of all time, transports viewers into a watershed period of the French colonisation of Algeria. The film is an intense, gritty reconstruction of revolutionary events that occurred in the Algerian capital between 1954 and 1957, when Algeria’s National Liberation Front (FLN) called for independence from France and began violent armed resistance in its battle to throw off the occupying power. The French responded by attempting to put down the insurrection using through any means available, including systematic repression of the Arab population of Algiers, and assassination or capture of the FLN’s membership. Gillo Pontecorvo’s finest work is praised for its balanced portrayal of events; it won the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion in 1966 and was nominated for three Academy Awards. In 2010, it was ranked sixth in ‘Empire’ magazine's list of ‘100 Best Films of World Cinema’.